Euro 2020 Qualifiers: 5 Players who dominated the international break with excellent performances

The first international break of 2019 culminated on Wednesday with several top teams giving a good account of themselves.

The fixtures mostly comprised of qualification games for the Euro 2020 as sides looked to make the most of their exposure to seal their spot at the competition.

The likes of Belgium, England, France, and Spain played two games apiece and emerged victorious on both occasions whereas sides such as Germany played a solitary encounter.

Over the matches, there were numerous superb performances by players, whether it be stupendous defensive displays or exceptional offensive showings.

Thus, through the course of this article, we would delve a little deeper into those performances and chalk out five players who dominated the international fixtures in the past week.

Without further ado, here is a look at them:

#5 Memphis Depay (Netherlands)

Memphis Depay had another brilliant game for Netherlands — Memphis Depay had another brilliant game for

The Dutch international hasn’t been in the best of form for his club Lyon this term. However, whenever he has donned the Netherlands jersey, he has looked a man possessed. And this week’s games against Germany and Belarus weren’t any different.

Depay set the world alight with his twin performances. The brace against Belarus was followed by another goal against Germany. In the process, he took his international goal tally to 16 in 46 appearances.

On both occasions, the forward was at the peak of his powers. His movement was top notch as he ran into channels and created space for his teammates.

In addition, his mazy dribbling tied the Belarusian defence in knots whereas he also caused the Germans plenty of problems in the second half.

However, the most impressive aspect of his game-play was his end product. Over the years, Depay’s quality on the ball has never been in question. Yet, the Dutchman hasn’t always translated that potential into goals.

However, with him hitting a purple patch recently, many are starting to opine that the winger could just have come off age.

Depay has been an enigma ever since he broke onto the footballing scene. But, with one scintillating performance close on the heels of another, he is slowly but surely casting himself as a reliable option for the Dutch side.

Hence, he makes our list.

#4 Alvaro Morata (Spain)

Alvaro Morata has endured a torrid time over the past couple of seasons. A year on from becoming Chelsea’s all-time record signing, he found himself as the target of the Stamford Bridge faithful’s criticism.

Often lamented by the media and fans for his lack of goal-scoring contribution, the Spaniard’s level of performances nosedived in England. Thus, the forward decided to swap England for the relatively sunnier Spain.

Morata joined hands with Atletico Madrid and it instantly impacted him positively. The confidence returned and above all, he had started enjoying his football again. Hence, when the international break rolled in, numerous eyes were trained upon how the forward would fare. To his credit, he lived up to his billing.

Though he didn’t score at home to Norway, Morata bagged a couple of goals away at Malta. Against the latter, the Spaniard held the ball up adroitly and brought his teammates into play. Moreover, his constant movement off the ball provided his midfielders with options to play the ball forward.

The first goal against Malta arrived courtesy some superb running and finishing. As for the second goal, Morata again shrugged off his marker before powering a header past the Malta keeper.

Once touted as one of the brightest Spanish prospects, the forward’s career was in danger of ending as an anti-climax. Yet, in recent times, Morata has portrayed the quality that once made him a feared striker.

And while it might be a little premature to say that the forward is back to his best, there are certainly signs that he is on an upward curve.

#3 Eden Hazard (Belgium)

Eden Hazard’s name has been in the news over the past few months. However, not all of it has been for footballing reasons. The Belgian has been linked with a blockbuster move to Real Madrid for a while and that particular rumour has been splashed across the back pages. Yet, during the international break, the Chelsea star ensured he was in the limelight for his football.

Belgium played a couple of Euro 2020 qualifiers with their games coming against Russia and Cyprus. The match at home to Russia was looked upon as a crunch game as the Russians represented the other strong team in their group.

However, the Red Devils made light work of their visitors with Hazard playing a starring role. The Belgian captain got on the score-sheet twice and led the team to success.

The away trip to Cyprus ended with a 2-0 victory for Belgium with the Chelsea star opening the scoring in the 10th minute.

On days when Hazard is on song, there are only a handful of players who can hold a candle to his abilities. Though he was a bit short of being at his zenith, he definitely had enough in the tank to see off two potential banana-skin matches.

Hence, he rounds off the top three of our list.

#2 Kylian Mbappe (France)

The French youngster enjoyed a superlative 2018 for France with the crowning glory being the FIFA World Cup triumph. The forward scored truckloads of goals for his club and country as he truly announced himself on the world stage.

Thus, many expected him to slow down a touch as 2019 dawned. However, Mbappe just carried his form of last year into the recently concluded international break.

Against Moldova, the French sensation was efficient and made the net bulge once. Yet, in the second match at home to Iceland, he raised his game a notch and put in an incredible performance.

The forward was at the heart of everything France did offensively and set up two goals. The first was a peach of a cross from the left flank whereas his second assist was a sumptuous back-heel to send Antoine Griezmann free. He capped off his display against Iceland with a superb goal.

Every international fixture concerning France these days seems to possess an inevitability about it with that being a stunning Mbappe performance. And the past week only lent weight to that argument.

Hence, he takes the runner up spot on our list.

#1 Raheem Sterling (England)

Raheem put in Sterling performances over the international break

At the perch of our list, we have none other than Raheem Sterling. The Englishman was again at the top of his game as England demolished the Czech Republic and Montenegro in the Euro 2020 qualifiers.

The Manchester City star ran rings around the Czech defence on his way to a sublime hat-trick. Apart from the goals, Sterling’s approach play was extremely impressive as he wriggled out of tight spaces with ease whereas his dribbling was menacing.

In the game against Montenegro, the winger provided two assists as he set up Ross Barkley for the third and Harry Kane for the fourth. In addition, he applied further gloss on the score-line by scoring The Three Lions’ fifth deep into the game.

A couple of years ago, Sterling fell under the category of players with vast but unfulfilled potential. However, since Pep Guardiola has arrived at Manchester City, the Englishman has raised his game exponentially.

Even though Kane might get the headlines for his goal-scoring exploits, there is no denying that Sterling is as vital a cog as any for Gareth Southgate. At this juncture, he is the outstanding player in the English team and one they can’t do without.

Thus, unsurprisingly, he takes the numero uno spot on our list.

Edited by Aaditya Narayan