As we gear up for today’s Euro 2020 round of 16 games which kicks off later this evening, fans have been treated to brilliant and brave on field performances across-the-board. Without further ado, let’s dive right in to our carefully selected best xi of the group stage.
GK: Gianlugi Donnarumma(Italy)
At the heart of our defense is 22 year old Donnarumma whose displays have prevented other teams for hitting his net with goals. The Italian goalkeeper is the only keeper in the tournament yet to concede a goal in over 250 minutes of play.
Defenders : Denzel Dumfries(Netherlands) , David Alaba(Austria) , Leonardo Bonucci(Italy), Robin Gosens (Germany).
“The most potent attack win you games while the best defense wins you titles”. As the saying goes, the aforementioned defenders have all put forward match winning performances in their respective groups. Denzel Dumfries blew fans away with his 5 stars display in Netherlands first two games against Ukraine and Austria scoring a goal in each game. His pace, trickery and defensive abilities led Netherlands to win all three matches in their group.
Captain David Alaba is undoubtedly the biggest name in the Austrian squad. Despite playing as a left wing back in Austria’s first game, he produced an impressive man of the match performance against North Macedonia and Ukraine. The realmadrid defender has two assists to his name in the competition.
Leonardo Bonucci claim as one of the best defenders in the world was in full fledge at Euro 2020. The Juventus defender inspired Italy to a record breaking 3 straight wins at the group stage, this has never be done before. The Italians did it in grand style without conceding a goal because of their energetic and captivating defense structure.
Robin Gosens entrance to the Euro was fully in motion in their second game against Portugal with a beautiful headed goal in their 4-2 win. Gosens who won the man of the match against Portugal also turned up the ante in the left wing back position for Germany in all of their group games. His defensive and offensive abilities has been a key part of Joachim Low’s team. These abilities will come in handy in their R16 game against England.
Midfielders : Emil Forsberg (Sweden), Gini Wijnaldum (Netherlands), Kelvin De Bruyne (Belgium)
Sweden scored 4 goals in the group stages and Emil Forsberg is responsible for 3 of the goals. No one gave Sweden the chance to top a group consisting of Spain and Poland but the exploits of Forsberg inspired Sweden to a massive 7 points out of 9.
Gini Wijnaldum who has just completed a move to PSG is arguably Netherlands best player at Euro 2020. The captain fantastic orchestrated the midfield for his side with so much tenacity, agility and technicality. Netherlands joined Belgium and Italy as the only side to have ever won all there games at the Euros, his two goals proved decisive in bagging a place in the round of 16.
The midfield maestro who missed Belgium’s first game made up for that miss in their second and last game. Kelvin De Bruyne absolutely bossed the midfield bagging an assist and also a goal in their second game. His class is never in doubt and it will be pivotal to Belgium’s quest of winning their first silverware.
Forwards : Cristiano Ronaldo(Portugal), Romelu Lukaku(Belgium), Patrick Schick(Czech)
The footballing world will always run out of adjectives to describe the quality of Cristiano Ronaldo who once again created records at Euro 2020.
The Portuguese legend leads the all time goal scorer chat at the Euros with 14 goals after bagging 5 goals and 1 assist in a supposed group of death. Portugal face Belgium in the round of 16 on Tuesday and all eyes will be on Ronaldo to shine again.
Romelu Lukaku 3 goals, 1 assist for Belgium ensured they garnered all available 9 points in the group stage. His power, pace and hard work makes him the goto man for Belgium.
Patrick Schick volley from inside his half for Czech against Scotland is a proper Puskas contender for goal of the year. The striker 3 goals for Czech is the sole reason why they qualified as one of the best losers team for the round of 16.
What do you think about our selection? You can send a tweet to @football411ng or @TheOluwafemi__ on twitter let’s banter about the list.