The preliminary round of Euro 2024 has a lot to offer, from spectacular goals to curiosities. Here are some of the highlights. Pascal Zuberbühler also takes stock.
27.06.2024, 14:47
27.06.2024, 17:14
SDA
Own goals
It became a joke on social media during the preliminary round: a certain "own goal" led the list of goalscorers at the European Championships. And by a large margin. A player scored seven times into his own net. Fabian Schär's deflection against Scotland is not included here, in contrast to Turkey's Samet Akaydin's misplaced back pass against Portugal, the slapstick scene of the preliminary round par excellence. The Georgian Georges Mikautadze has scored the most own goals so far (3 times).
The high number of own goals confirms the trend of the 2021 European Championship and contrasts with previous finals. Three years ago, there were eleven own goals by the end of the tournament, compared to a total of eight at the five previous European Championships.
Goals from distance and in stoppage time
In the category of late goals, the record has already been set after the group matches. Ten goals were scored after the 90th minute; eight years ago in France there were nine. Some were also very decisive. Niclas Füllkrug's equalizer against Switzerland, for example, secured group victory for Germany instead of the Swiss, while Mattia Zaccagni's goal against Croatia ensured Italy progressed and Croatia were eliminated.
15 of the 81 goals so far have been scored from outside the penalty area. Xherdan Shaqiri's goal against Scotland was one of the best. With a rate of 18%, Euro 2024 is on course to set a new record for long-range goals. Overall, however, the tournament has been rather low-scoring so far. After the 36 group matches, the average is 2.25 goals per game. Since 1996, the figure has only been lower once, at 2.1 in 1996. In 2021, it was 2.78 goals per game.
Zubi enthusiastic about the Spaniards
Pascal Zuberbühler was impressed by the Spaniards after the group stage on blue Sport. "It's impressive how they showed themselves," said the former national team keeper on blue Sport. Above all, they didn't concede a goal. He would have expected more from the French. "The offense, boah, what names, unbelievable." But they have not been able to convince so far. But they will continue in the round of 16.
Many yellows, few red cards
Not only the 18 yellow cards and two red cards in the match between Turkey and the Czech Republic on Wednesday, but also the stricter punishment of complaints resulted in a flood of cards. 151 cautions have already been issued. That is already more than in the entire 2021 tournament, and the sanctions against protesting players did not fail to have an effect. The unspeakable pack formations were thus put to an end.
In contrast, sending offs with two red cards and one yellow card have been rare so far. Until the last match between Turkey and the Czech Republic, only Scotland's Ryan Porteous had been sent off. The Czechs then added a red card and a yellow card.
The slapstick interlude of the tournament: Mehmet Celik's reaction to his Turkish team-mate Samet Akaydin's own goal speaks volumes.
Image: Keystone
Xherdan Shaqiri also scores a dream goal at Euro 2024 with the 1:0 against Scotland.
Image: Keystone
Swiss referee Sandro Schärer cautions Portugal's Pedro Neto for a foul - the referees issued a total of 151 cautions in the 36 group matches, more than during the entire 2021 European Championship.
Image: Keystone
Croatia's former star Luka Modric (38) becomes the oldest European Championship goalscorer - yet what may be his last tournament with the national team ends with a preliminary round exit.
Image: Keystone
Lamine Yamal works his magic as a 16-year-old in Spain's national team.
Image: Keystone
The slapstick interlude of the tournament: Mehmet Celik's reaction to his Turkish team-mate Samet Akaydin's own goal speaks volumes.
Image: Keystone
Xherdan Shaqiri also scores a dream goal at Euro 2024 with the 1:0 against Scotland.
Image: Keystone
Swiss referee Sandro Schärer cautions Portugal's Pedro Neto for a foul - the referees issued a total of 151 cautions in the 36 group matches, more than during the entire 2021 European Championship.
Image: Keystone
Croatia's former star Luka Modric (38) becomes the oldest European Championship goalscorer - yet what may be his last tournament with the national team ends with a preliminary round exit.
Image: Keystone
Lamine Yamal works his magic as a 16-year-old in Spain's national team.
Image: Keystone
Age extremes and other records
The European Championship in Germany is also a tournament of age extremes. Portugal's 41-year-old defender Pepe replaced Hungarian goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly as the oldest player in European Championship history, while Luka Modric (38) became the oldest European Championship goalscorer with his goal for Croatia against Italy (1:1).
At the other end of the age scale, Spain's youngster Lamine Yamal set a new record. The 16-year-old teenager is now the youngest player to score at a European Championship. However, the record for youngest goalscorer is still held by Johan Vonlanthen, who scored for Switzerland as an 18-year-old in 2004.
Xherdan Shaqiri also holds a record, albeit not an official one, thanks to his dream goal against Scotland. The Swiss wizard is the only player to have scored at least once at each of the three World Cups and European Championships since the 2014 World Cup. Only Cristiano Ronaldo could do the same with a goal later in the tournament.
Little ones big time
Austria delivers. Coach Ralf Rangnick's team not only survived the "group of death" with France, the Netherlands and Poland, it even won the group with a gala performance in the last game against the Netherlands. Romania, who had relegated Switzerland to second place in qualifying, were also surprising group winners. Four points were enough for coach Edward Iordanescu's team to finish first in the pool with Belgium, Slovakia and Ukraine, while Ukraine were eliminated in fourth place with the same number of points.
The Georgians, Turks and Slovenians also had reason to celebrate. Georgia and Slovenia are in the knockout phase of a final tournament for the first time, Turkey for the first time since reaching the semi-finals at Euro 2008.
Only one team with the maximum
Only one team scored maximum points in the three group matches: Spain beat Croatia 3-0 and also kept a clean sheet in their 1-0 victories over Italy and Albania.
While the youngsters Lamine Yamal (16) and Nico Williams (21) whirled on the wings for the Iberians, Fabian Ruiz and Pedri delighted in midfield and the defense around Aymeric Laporte held tight, the heavyweights France and England have so far only shone with minimalism. Croatia's successful era with the golden generation around the ageing Luka Modric came to a bitter end.
The tableau and its contrasts
The fact that France and Belgium missed out on winning the group had a particular impact on the strength of the tableau halves. With Spain, Germany, Portugal, France and Belgium, the top half of the table is top-class on paper. Austria, on the other hand, could reach the semi-finals in the half with Switzerland and England with victories against Turkey, the Netherlands or Romania.
