A week full of surprises and very important for teams to collect some more points to determine their place in the Round of 16. We take a look at some of the best players and moments of the second matchday of the Euro 2020 which got us all on our toes and eager to find out who will make it through to the next stages of the tournament.
Group A
Turkey remain without a single point as goals from Aaron Ramsey and Connor Roberts awarded Wales their first three points of the tournament. On the other hand, Italy are on a roll as they go 29 matches unbeaten and 10 matches without conceding a single goal. The Italians are showing a strong front and after beating Switzerland 3-0 they secure their place in the Round of 16.
Wales - Gareth Bale
The 31-year old needs no introduction. He is an integral part of Wales and is doing everything he can to help them progress as much as they can throughout this tournament. An accurate and great pass to Aaron Ramsey opened the score for the Welsh three minutes before the referee blew the half-time whistle. He later on also assisted Roberts in order to secure a 2-0 win against Turkey, who surprisingly are not presenting much of a threat in the tournament, when they were expected to be the dark horses.
Despite missing a penalty, the Wales captain showed what a great leader he is to help his country move forward and make it a great footballing nation. During the post-match interviews, he reacted saying, "I'm absolutely delighted with the win, we fought hard, worked our socks off, yes I missed a penalty but I feel I showed good character to keep going. That second goal at the end was the icing on the cake. Aaron got in a few times, we've always linked up well. It was important to get the victory today." And he did react well, displaying exceptional dribbling and passing throughout the match to help set up goal scoring opportunities for the rest of the team. Italy - Manuel Locatelli
If you did not know who Sassuolo's Manuel Locatelli was, you sure do now. The 23-year old who grew up through AC Milan's academy and also had his breakthrough in Serie A with the Milanese club has left his mark already on this year's Euros after scoring twice to help his country win 3-0 to Switzerland, while maintaining a clean sheet.
The midfielder positioned himself well enough for his teammates, in particularly his Sassuolo teammate Domenico Berardi, to find him and create a goal scoring chance for Italy. With the Switzerland defense left open and not marking Locatelli enough, the Italian banged in two goals out of nowhere, while also having good control of the midfield and bring the play more forward for the Italian side. It was a special moment for Locatelli and as he explained, "I'm very proud of this award but I want to share it with the whole team; I think we are a wonderful group. The first goal was for my family. After passing the ball to Berardi, I followed the action because I know him well and I knew he would do something with it. The second was for all the Italy fans because we play to make them happy." Group B
Russia earn themselves their first three points after they managed to hold newcomers Finland to a 1-0 score thanks to a goal scored by Aleksei Miranchuk during the second minute of extra time after half-time. On the other hand, Denmark tried presenting a threat to Belgium with an early goal from RB Leipzig forward, Yussuf Poulsen but Thorgan Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne scored the winning goals to put Belgium through to the Round of 16 and on top of Group B.
Russia - Aleksei Miranchuk
The Atalanta midfielder scored a great goal with his left foot while pressured by the Finland defenders. Maintaining patience and keeping calm during the match enabled him to help his side keep the score 1-0 and give Russia a chance of progressing. Miranchuk is focused on bringing his team forward and rather than thinking about his goal and award he looks forward for another win, as he admits that it is a tough competition full of strong teams, "Yes, I scored a good goal, but it's not important. What's important is that we completed our task, won the game, got the much-needed three points and now we want to build on that. At this stage, the victory was most important. This is a tournament full of good teams and every game is the only one that needs to be focused on."
The Russian just joined Atalanta last season on a move from Lokomotiv Moscow on a transfer fee of €14.5 million. The 25-year old can fill up several positions in attack, but was used mostly as an attacking midfielder in Atalanta's campaign. In 25 Serie A appearances, he managed to net in four goals and registering two assists. He made his debut in Italian football against Scudetto winners Inter Milan as he came on for Ruslan Malinovskyi at the 59th minute, and scored the equaliser to finish the match with a score of 1-1, 20 minutes later. Belgium - Kevin De Bruyne
Inter Milan star Romelu Lukaku got the Star of the Match once again for his involvement in the set-up of both goals for Belgium, but since we talked about the 28-year old in the last blog, this week I am going to talk about one of the best midfielders that there is currently in the game, Kevin De Bruyne.
The 29-year old not only scored the winning goal at the 70th minute, but he also assisted Thorgan Hazard in scoring the equaliser to send the Red Devils to the Round of 16. De Bruyne had to miss out on the first match against Russia due to an injury, but now he came back stronger for the rest of tournament and the Belgians are looking strong and threatening, even more with him in the pitch. De Bruyne is not new to football fans, the Champions League finalist this year also won the Premier League once again with Manchester City while scoring six goals and registering 12 assists in 25 appearances. He also signed a contract extension which will keep him at the club till 2025 and also made him the highest paid player in the Premier League as he will be earning £385 thousand a week. Group C
Ukraine display another strong performance, this time against North Macedonia to earn themselves their first three points of the tournament. Captain Andriy Yarmolenko opened the score in the 29th minute, with forward Roman Yaremchuk doubling the score to send the Ukrainian into half-time with two goals in hand. Ezgjan Alioski tried helping North Macedonia with scoring in the second half, but the Macedonians could not seem to get through the Ukrainian defence.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands also secured their place in the Round of 16 as a penalty scored by Depay and Dumfries doubling the score in the second half, saw them win 2-0 to Austria who now need to face Ukraine and determine who will go through in second place. Ukraine - Andriy Yarmolenko
The 31-year old midfielder is making quite a name for himself in this year's Euros, and he deserves the spotlight after he missed out on a lot during last season's West Ham's Premier League campaign which saw them enter the Europa League for next season. The injuries sustained last season gave Yarmolenko a lot of time to prepare and come back stronger to the field to help Ukraine make it through to the Euros and be a threatening side.
The Ukrainian has always been an essential part of his nation's football team, also being awarded the Ukrainian Player of the Year award in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017. Despite his age, Yarmolenko is still a very strong figure. He is a great leader and captain to his side and pairs up well with his teammates. He helps defensively and manages to switch the game to move the ball forward for Ukraine and create goal scoring opportunities. After this match, Yarmolenko became the first Ukrainian player to score in two different Euro matches and also equalled his coach's, Andriy Shevchenko goals in the Euro tournament which amount to two goals. If he keeps this pace going, Yarmolenko will become Ukraine's all-time top goalscorer in the Euros. The Netherlands - Matthijs De Ligt
The Star of the Match for the Netherlands was awarded to Denzel Dumfries, but having already spoken about the 25-year old last week, I decided to give the spotlight to Matthijs De Ligt who finally made his return to the field after sustaining a groin strain. His absence has been felt and it showed, especially after the Netherlands managed to keep a clean sheet against a strong and determined Austrian side with him at the back.
The 21-year old had a perfect match and did not even commit a single foul. Completing 40 passes, he had a passing accuracy of 100%, as he helped to bring the ball forward from the defense. He was a strong defensive wall at the back together with Stefan De Vrij and Daley Blind. There was never a doubt that the Juventus defender is one of the best in the game and so far he did great to maintain a strong defense while Virgil Van Dijk misses out on the whole tournament due to his ACL. He is a great leader at the back who maintains great communication with his teammates and remains calm in stressful situations to help release his team from any threat. Group D
Results from both matches left the group quite open to who'll qualify and who won't to the Round of 16. Croatia earned their first point as Ivan Perisic managed to find the equaliser in the second half, after the Czech Republic got the lead in the first half thanks to a penalty taken by Patrick Schick. Meanwhile, Scotland held on to a 0-0 draw to arch rivals England during the derby as they were unlucky in finding the net. The Scots showcased a great display of football and surely surprised the English with their level of football. Meanwhile England did not have the best of matches, having only one shot on target and did not manage to dominate the game despite the fact of having more possession.
Croatia - Luka Modric
It was not Croatia's best performance against Czech Republic and in fact so far they have not shown any dominance in this year's Euros. Whether it is because of Croatia's footballing turmoil after some figures had been caught in fraud or maybe the team which is now getting older and the need to be looking at younger players that can adapt to the fast football that is now being played, the side need to get their act together if they want to see themselves progressing to the round of 16.
Despite this, it was 35-year old Luka Modric that was awarded Star of the Match, and it is no surprise considering that he is one of the key figures that keeps the Croatian midfield going. The Real Madrid midfielder did his best to try and create opportunities for his side. He helped bring play forward but he also helped to defend the point that Croatia were about to earn thanks to some important tackles. Scotland - Billy Gilmour
20-year old Billy Gilmour not only made his Euro debut but he made headlines after helping Scotland keep a 0-0 draw against a strong English side who can be said, underperformed. The midfielder was pivotal in Scotland's midfield, helping to bring the ball forward and create some great opportunities which unfortunately Scotland missed out on. He was great when it came to change from defensive play to offensive and vice versa and we can surely expect Steve Clarke to make more us of the youngster.
Gilmour started his professional career with the Rangers U17 side in Scotland, before he completed a move to London, when he signed with the Chelsea academy. He was promoted to the senior team in February 2020 but is yet to leave his mark and become a regular for Tuchel's squad. He was involved in the Champions League squad which won this year's Champions League final and also managed five Premier League appearances this year. Unfortunately Gilmour got infected with the Covid-19 virus, and is unlikely that he'll start against Croatia, so we hope that Scotland pull of a great performance against Croatia so that he'll maybe get a chance to play at a later stage in the tournament. Group E
Scoring a penatly for Sweden to help them earn three points from a 1-0 win, Emil Forsberg became the first Swedish goalscorer in the Euros, the last being Sebastian Larsson in 2012. The Slovaks did well to defend the goal but bringing down Robin Quaison resulted in Sweden being awarded a penalty.
Meanwhile, Spain earned another point from another draw, this time against Poland. Alvaro Morata opened the score for Spain in the first half, with Robert Lewandowski equalising in the second half. Sweden - Aleksander Isak
The 21-year old was awarded the Star of the Match awarded for the fact that "he was always dangerous and a threat behind Slovakia's defence," as UEFA Technical Observor Mixu Paatelainen explained. The forward currently plays for Real Sociedad in La Liga after signing with them from Borussia Dortmund in 2015 on a transfer fee of €15 million.
Isak is coming from a great season with Real Sociedad, after in 34 appearances, he netted 17 goals and registered two assists. In the season of 2018/19, he was the Copa Del Rey's top goalscorer with seven goals in. It is without a doubt that the Swedish is a goalscoring machine, he just needs to be given more opportunity with his national side. This is his first major tournament, and without a doubt, he needs to get comfortable when facing defenses which include the likes of Milan Skriniar, Jordi Alba or Kamil Glik. He already showed how threatening he can be, it won't be long if Sweden proceed to the Round of 16 before we see him score some goals for his national side too. Spain - Jordi Alba
Great effort by the Spanish captain to help his team keep a 1-1 draw. Spain have not been going through the best of years, and the Covid-19 outbreak which they had in their camp, had sent them back a step backwards with preparing for this year's Euro Cup. Only achieving two draws, Jordi Alba was an essential part in bringing these points home for Spain, in a group which is very open on who will qualify for the Round of 16.
The 32-year old is not new to football fans. He is loved mostly by Barcelona fans, who he played for ever since 2012 when he moved from Valencia. Speaking to the media in his post-match interview he said,"Yes, I think that, well, we have given it our all. It wasn't meant to be, which is a shame. There is still another match left and it's down to us." Told about his performance against one of the best strikers in Europe, Robert Lewandowski, he responded, "We knew that they're a very compact team with their star player, as you said, Lewandowski. And we tried until the end and we had chances and we just needed a bit more luck but now it's all about winning the next match." Group F
This group keeps getting interesting by the second. Let's start off with how Hungary showed a strong front against current World Champions France. It is no secret that most of us thought that France would batter Hungary, but Attila Fiola put his team in the lead right before half-time. The French found it very difficult to find the net, and in fact they only found it once at the 66th minute thanks to Antoine Griezmann.
Meanwhile, it was a goals galore between Portugal and Germany. Gosens almost opened the score for Germany, but it was ruled offside. Later on, Cristiano Ronaldo put Portugal in the lead but the his team's defense was all over the place with Ruben Dias and Raphael Guerreiro scoring own goals to put Germany up 2-1. Six minutes after the second half commenced, Kai Havertz scored Germany's first original goal to make it 3-1 and Gosens made it 4-1 at the 60th minute. Diogo Jota tried helping his team as he scored at 67th minute, but nothing was enough for at least Portugal to achieve a draw. Hungary - Laszlo Kleinheisler
The 27-year old played a huge part in stopping the likes of Mbappe and Benzema from scoring and performed well to earn his country their first point in this tournament. No one expected Hungary to hold the current World Champions to a draw, but they are proving Europe wrong and hope to at least earn enough points to at least finish in third place.
The midfielder plays in the Croatian first tier league with Osijek. For some reason, it was decided to leave him out of the squad for most of the qualifying phase, but now he is back to help his country progress through in this year's Euros campaign and if they can pull out a great performance against Germany, who despite winning 4-2 to Portugal, are still a team which are struggling, they will be in the chance to actually making it to the round of 16. Germany - Robin Gosens
In my first blog before the Euros commenced, I gave you a little preview about Gosens and how finally he got chosen for the German national team. Well, now you understand why I was very excited to watch this player at the Euros. He is dynamic and a real threat to opponents and was well involved against a strong Portugal side.
He first found the net during the first 10 minutes of the match, but it was ruled out as offside. He did not back down though, and kept getting himself involved, setting up goal scoring opportunities for his teammates while still being defensively strong, leaving no space for Portugal to go in between him and Rudiger. As UEFA Techncial Observor Steffen Freund explained, "An outstanding performance from the Germany left wing-back. He was involved in almost all the goals and managed to find the net himself. He was always impressive off the ball and closed the space next to Rudiger: Portugal could hardly get in behind down his side. Gosens stayed high when going forward and always posed a threat in one-on-ones and with his crossing. World class."
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