The recently concluded Euro 2020 tournament will be remembered for many things: Christian Eriksen, a record number of own goals, dramatic finishes, and England’s first final appearance in over half a century to name just a few.
It will also be remembered for the unheralded stars who produced breakout performances on the big stage, and for the big stars who flopped amid the weight of expectations.
Before saying goodbye to Euro 2020, SBOTOP lists down the most notable breakout stars and star flops that we witnessed in this tournament.
Stars: Chiesa, Locatelli, and Spinazzola, Italy
First and foremost, a salute to the newly crowned champions of Europe, Italy. It was a complete team effort from the Azzurri, who had several players step up to the plate during different stages of the competition.
Similar to how it’s hard to name the standout player in their title run, it’s also hard to decide their standout breakout performer from the trio of Enrico Chiesa, Manuel Locatelli, and Leonardo Spinazzola.
Locatelli made plenty of Euro 2020 highlights during the group stage before giving way for Marco Verratti in the knockout rounds, and is surely up for a move to a big club in the near future.
Meanwhile, Chiesa went from impact sub to critical starter and was Italy’s most dangerous attacker in the final before he disappointingly left with an injury. That performance provided further proof that Chiesa is clearly a top-class star.
It was equally disappointing see Spinazzola go down with an Achilles injury in the quarter-final against Belgium. The left-back was so instrumental to the Azzurri attack for most of the tournament, and his absence was keenly felt. Nevertheless, Italy found a way to cope and win the cup even after his major contributions had ended.
Flop: Bruno Fernandes, Portugal
Portugal’s defence of their European title ended somewhat disappointingly in the Round of 16 against Belgium. Bruno Fernandes did not start that match, nor did he start their critical group matchup against France after his underwhelming play in their first few games.
Jose Mourinho blasted Bruno’s poor performance, and the Special One had a point. After a terrific campaign with Manchester United, Bruno simply couldn’t make as big of an impact for his country, which played a part in their early exit.
Bruno is a strong candidate to replace Cristiano Ronaldo as Portugal’s talisman when the latter inevitably retires, but his poor showing in Euro 2020 suggests he is not yet ready to take on that role.
Star: Luke Shaw, England
Euro 2020 was the tournament of left-backs/wing-backs, with the likes of Spinazzola, Switzerland’s Steven Zuber, and Germany’s Robin Gosens all catching the eye.
However, it was England’s Luke Shaw who shone the brightest among all the breakout left-backs. The Manchester United star – who was a consistent target of criticism by Mourinho during his time at Old Trafford – carried his brilliant club form over to the Euros, where he was one of England’s top performers.
Shaw led the team with three assists and scored the fastest goal in Euros final history after just two minutes. Unfortunately, that goal did not end up being the goal that brought football home, but it was nevertheless another vital contribution by England’s fast-rising star.
Flop: Ozan Tufan, Turkey
The entire Turkey team may as well be included on this list of flops given how tremendously they failed to live up to expectations in this tournament. But if we’re to limit it to just one player, then Ozan Tufan is likely the unfortunate one to make it in.
While the Fenerbahce midfielder is not as big a name as his other Turkish teammates (Hakan Calhanoglu, Burak Yilmaz, and Caglar Soyuncu, to name three), he had a growing reputation and has been linked with big moves to Liverpool and other top clubs.
However, that ship may have sailed – at least for the time being – after Tufan looked terribly out of his depth at the Euros. Turkey looked overmatched in midfield in all three games they played, and while Tufan was not solely responsible for that, he certainly did not help.
Star: Patrik Schick, Czech Republic
Once a top European prospect, Schick’s star has been on the wane after a couple of lacklustre years in Roma. But the Czech striker has slowly rebuilt his reputation back up in recent years, and his breakout performance at the Euros has only helped accelerate that process.
Schick may have missed out on the Golden Boot to Cristiano Ronaldo, who broke their five-goal tie with an assist, but Schick at least has the distinction of scoring the tournament’s most memorable goal with his 50-yard strike against Scotland.
Flop: Kylian Mbappe, France
When it comes to star flops at Euro 2020, none were bigger than France’s Kylian Mbappe. The Paris Saint-Germain star amazed as a teenager to help France to victory in the 2018 World Cup, and the Euro 2020 odds had Les Blues as big favourites in large part because of him.
Unfortunately, though, their star striker was simply not good enough in this tournament. Mbappe did not score a single goal and only three of his 14 total shots were on target. And he was off target when his country needed him the most as he missed the decisive penalty in their shootout loss to Switzerland.
Thankfully, time is still very much on Mbappe’s side, and he will have plenty of opportunities to redeem himself after his forgettable Euro 2020 flop.
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