Although taking place a year later than it should have done the Euros produced some excellent matches throughout the tournament with Italy winning the tournament on July 11th beating England in the final at Wembley.
For the first time the tournament was played in multiple countries which proved a success although some teams did have to travel a lot more than others, Wales had a lot of travelling whilst England played all their games at Wembley bar their quarter final versus Ukraine.
The group stages contained no real surprises with France ending up top of the so called ‘Group of death’ which also contained Portugal, Germany, and Hungary. France, Portugal, and Germany all progressed to the last sixteen, but all went out at this stage, France were shocked by local neighbours Switzerland in what was probably the biggest shock of the tournament.
The real hero of the group stages and tournament was Simon Kjaer, Denmark’s captain, who saved the life of Christian Eriksen when he collapsed on the pitch. Thankfully, he is now doing well. Denmark had a great tournament reaching the semi-finals before losing two one to England in a closely fought game at Wembley.
There were some great matches at the Euro’s, the pick of which were probably the two last sixteen games played on Monday June 28th. These were between Croatia and Spain which was a real topsy turvy affair before Spain ran out 5-3 winners after extra time. This enthralling match was then followed by France v Switzerland which ended up 3-3 before Switzerland won on penalties. France was leading 3-1 at one stage and looked set for the quarter finals before two late goals from Switzerland.
The two semi-finals ended up being between Italy and Spain and England and Denmark. Spain had most of the possession in the first semi-final although the Italians defended resolutely with Chiellini and Bonocci at the heart of this. If any Spanish player got through these two, they then had to pass Donnarumma in goal who was the best keeper in the tournament and won the best player of the Euros. The game ended 1-1 but the Italians, with Donnarumma making some fine saves, won the penalty shootout.
The other semi-final at Wembley between England and Denmark ended up with England winning two one with Harry Kane scoring the winning goal when he followed up the penalty that Schmeichel saved. Denmark opened the scoring with a fabulous free kick from Mikkel Damsgaard.
So, it would be Italy and England in the final with England looking for their first trophy since 1966.
England started brilliantly with Luke Shaw scoring after just three minutes. Italy looked shell shocked, but England did not really go for the second goal and Italy came more into the game and at half time England just led by the solitary goal. The second half saw a much-improved Italy and England began to sit deeper and deeper and it was no surprise when Bonucci scored to send the game into extra time. Both teams seemed to settle for penalties and sadly for England Rashford, Saka and Sancho all failed to score and Italy lifted the trophy for their second time.
Although this was hugely disappointing for England the World Cup in Qatar is only 18 months away and they will be confident of going one step further then.
If you are looking to see the stars of the Euros perform this season we have official Premier League hospitality packages at Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Chelsea. We also have Champions League packages to all the games as well as packages to see Barcelona, Real Madrid, and PSG.
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