The Euro 2016 came to an end as Portugal lifted their first ever major international trophy. They had a fairly easy road to the finals, but met the favourites and hosts of the tournament, France, who had to face a much sterner tasks on their road to the finals.
This year’s Euros were full of surprises as teams like Wales and Iceland came through the ranks and established themselves as teams to be reckoned with. On the flipside, teams like England and the Netherlands crumpled under pressure and the latter could not even achieve a qualification to the group stages.
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Antoine Griezmann was a revelation as he scored six goals, ending as the top scorer of the tournament, although he couldn’t inspire his team to win the tournament at home. One of the interestingly surprising facts about the tournament was that Iceland, despite being ranked 131 in 2010, participated in the group stage.
They not only participated, but also survived a group that had Portugal and Hungary. Iceland were unbeaten in the group as they faced England in the round-of-16 phase of the Euros. They dominated and dumped England out of the Euros.
What’s funnily surprising is that Iceland played both the finalists of the Euros as they played Portugal in the group stages, while playing France in the quarter-final, only to lose 5-2. Below are 5 of the most surprising facts about the 2016 Euros:
1) Champions won only one game on their way to the title
Portugal were crowned as champions of Europe for the first time in their entire history, as they beat France 1-0 after extra time through an Eder goal. But what’s surprising is that Portugal only won one game in normal time.
They did not win a single game in the group stages of the Euros, as the Portuguese secured three draws against Hungary, Iceland and Austria. Then in the round-of-16 clash, the Ronaldo-led team faced Croatia in a match that was goalless for the whole of 90 minutes.
The win came through a goal from Ricardo Quaresma in the dying minutes of the second half of extra time. They couldn’t even win a game against Poland in the quarterfinals as the match went down to penalties, duly won by Portugal.
Their only regulation time win of the tournament came against a resilient Wales side, which featured Cristiano’s Real Madrid teammate Gareth Bale, but their attempts in bringing Portugal down fell short, as Ronaldo proved to be the difference with a goal and an assist in the game.
2) Brother vs Brother
Another weird fact about the Euro 2016 was that Taulant Xhaka and Granit Xhaka, brothers by birth faced off each other as Albania took on Switzerland in the group stages of the 2016 Euros. Taulant Xhaka, the elder of the two, decided to play for Albania after switching his allegiance from Switzerland to the nation that he played for.
He played for Switzerland throughout his entire youth career, but decided to switch to Albania after his brother Granit told him that he made a huge mistake after he chose to play for Switzerland over his country of descent.
Both the brothers were born in Basel, Switzerland, and are of Albanian heritage as their family moved from Kosovo before the birth of the elder Xhaka. The brothers faced each other in the 2016 Euros in a Group A tie. The younger brother was the victor of the two and god knows how awkward the match might have been for their parents!
3) France’s home record in the Euros
France have an excellent record at home in the Euros. The first time they won the Euros was when it was held in France in 1984. To make things more interesting, France have now held three Euros. The Les Blues were considered to be favourites of the tournament as they had probably the best squad on paper, despite Karim Benzema missing out due to his alleged off-field issues.
What’s more surprising is that France have not lost a single game in the last 18 games played on their home turf, and they did not lose a single game in the 2016 Euros either. The only game in which they did not win was the finals, which was won by Portugal in extra time and according to FIFA, a game can only be won in normal time.
Games won in the extra time are considered as draws only.
Portugal emerged as surprise winners of a competition, where they were not even expected to reach the semi-finals. The last two tournaments that France held, were both won by them that included the World Cup in 1998 and the Euros in 1984.
4) Petr Cech’s unwanted record
Former Chelsea keeper Petr Cech set an unwanted record in the Euros as he became the keeper who conceded most number of goals at the Euros ever. He has conceded 21 goals at the Euros over the course of four editions including Euros held in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016.
Petr Cech announced his retirement from International football after his country headed out of the tournament, although it was largely down to how bad his defence was. Though he is considered by many as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, this unwanted record is very weird to have.
What’s surprising is that Petr Cech was coming off an incredible season on a personal note as he ended the campaign with most clean sheets (16) in the Premier League. Though he had an incredible season, Arsenal were largely poor, despite finishing second in the league table.
5) Portugal’s stats in the Euros
Despite Portugal winning the Euros, they had the second lowest ball possession in the whole tournament. That is surprising and poor considering they had a relatively easy route to the championship, as the only stern tests came in the semi-finals and finals when they faced Wales and France respectively.
It is poor on so many levels, that many have questioned whether Portugal were actually worthy of winning the trophy. Portugal kept a meagre 51.6% possession, which was the 12th highest in a 24-team tournament. Only the six teams that finished at the bottom of their groups had a lower win percentage than Portugal.
These statistics are disturbing, to say the least, as Portugal had winners nowhere written over their performance because they were underwhelming throughout the tournament. They were ahead for a total of 73 minutes throughout the tournament, which is sad as they played the most number of minutes of football with 720 minutes after playing in extra time three times.
