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Football fans from around the globe had a hard time last year, with the pandemic causing EURO 2020 to be postponed for a year from the actual scheduled date. The tournament kicked off on 11th June 2021 and nevertheless, it has been worth the wait.
For the first time in the history of the UEFA EURO, the tournament is being held in 11 different cities across 11 countries to mark the 60th anniversary of the competition.
The EURO 2020 qualifiers have been quite eventful. We saw current champions Portugal, alongside Germany and world champions France, qualify for a record 13th straight EURO Championship.
Belgium and Italy are the only two sides to register a flawless Euro 2020 campaign by winning 10 out of 10 matches played during the qualifying period.
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While Finland and North Macedonia are the two teams who made their European debuts this term, Scotland marked their first major international appearance since the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
Failure to feature in any major international tournament since the 2014 FIFA World Cup semi-final has been haunting The Oranje. But Gini Wijnaldum and his team have left it all behind to find themselves a place in EURO 2020 following an impressive qualifying campaign.
The Netherlands won 6, drew 1 and lost 1 from their 8 qualifying games.
Another astonishing fact — for the first time since 1976, no team qualified for the UEFA EURO Championship automatically as the host team. Each of the 55 UEFA members had to go through the qualifying process in order to book their spots.
Post qualification and group distribution, all eyes were on Euro 2020 Group F. The group of death featured 3 teams (out of 4) who previously have won at least one major international trophy. These were France (reigning world champions), Portugal (reigning European champions) and Germany (2014 World Cup winners).
As we can see, the hype that revolved around the competition has got the fans excited even before the start and it won't be unfair to say the tournament so far has been a thrilling experience indeed. While we've witnessed strong teams battle it out for supremacy, we've also seen underdogs come on top.
The EURO 2020 group stage matches have ended and the tournament is all set to begin with the knockout phase. Let's take a moment to look back at a few (out of many) interesting moments from the UEFA EURO 2020 group stage matches.
Interesting moments and highlights from the UEFA EURO 2020 group stage matches
#5 Benzema scoring two goals at the exact same time!
The first reaction of anybody to this strange incident would be — is Benzema a time traveler? If not, then how can anyone possibly score two goals at the exact same time? Well, it is possible and Karim Benzema showed us how.
Euro 2020 Group F undoubtedly produced the best matches in the group stage. One such was the game between France and Portugal. The fixture had enough hype as former team-mates Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema stood on the same turf for the first time since the Portuguese captain's exit from Real Madrid.
The game ended in a draw and all the goals were scored by none but these two. However, Benzema's goal marked a rare instance in football history. The Frenchman scored both of his goals with time on the clock being 46:44!
Well, it isn't as complicated as it sounds. The first goal came during injury time in the first half. At one minute and 44 seconds to be precise. The second one too was scored at one minute and 44 seconds but it came in the second half. The Real Madrid striker created a rare moment after all!
#4 Cristiano Ronaldo breaking multiple records
By now, the football world has gotten used to Cristiano Ronaldo and his regular habit of breaking records. The Juventus superstar used the EURO 2020 group stage as his platform to break further records.
As Portugal gained a sensational victory in the latter stages of the game in their opener against Hungary, their captain found the net twice to take his European goal tally to 11. He overtook France's Michel Platini (9 EURO goals) to become the all-time top scorer of the competition.
Cristiano has now extended his total to 14 UEFA European Championship goals. The former Real Madrid winger is also the only player to score at 5 European Championships.
To add to the above record, he is now the oldest player ever to score a brace in the competition and also Portugal's oldest player to score at a major tournament.
Another massive record came during Portugal's draw against France where Cristiano Ronaldo became the player with the most international goals. He shares the record (109) with former Iranian player Ali Daei.
#3 Germany's last moment comeback
It was nearly impossible to predict who would advance into the knockout stage from Euro 2020 Group F. The group of death was fierce and it was anybody's game until the last day.
It was expected of France, Germany, and Portugal to showcase their brilliance on a constant level, while Hungary's display came as a surprise. All the top teams managed to win just one each from a total of three games.
The reigning world champions managed to cement their top spot by avoiding any loss and scoring 5 points (1W, 2D). The last day of the Euro 2020 group stage matches was crucial as Portugal and Germany had to fight hard to enter the next round.
While Portugal maintained an even game against France, Germany was losing their must-win game against the underdogs — Hungary. A loss would have eliminated Germany from Euro 2020.
Hungary led the game 2-1 until the last stages of the fixture but with just six minutes to spare, German midfielder Leon Goretzka came up clutch for his side. Goretzka's 84th minute equalizer kept Germany in the competition and eventually handed them a spot in the top 16 of Euro 2020.
#2 Spain's last-ditch efforts
The Spanish side entered the tournament in a not-so-peaceful manner. There was a lot of criticism regarding Luis Enrique's team selection that saw no Real Madrid player featuring for the national side for the first time in history.
A notable exclusion was of their captain Sergio Ramos'. The fact that Luis Enrique decided to go with 24 players instead of 26 led to further controversies. With all this around, La Roja's start to the Euro 2020 campaign was not on a good note.
Despite being placed in a relatively easier group by their standards, Spain failed to win a match until their last game at Euro 2020. At one point it looked like the two-time Euro champs would have to pack their bags and get home.
However, their fortunes turned in the game vs Slovakia (who defeated Poland in their opening game).
Spain scored five goals against the Slovakian side to secure second spot in Euro 2020 Group E. This was the only group alongside B to not have their 3rd placed team in the top 16. This shows how important that last win was for the Spanish side.
#1 Christian Eriksen's collapse
12th June 2021. Denmark vs Finland at Euro 2020 was a game to forget for the football fraternity. In the 42nd minute, much to the shock of players and fans, the Danish number 10 collapsed on the field as he was receiving a throw-in.
The medics arrived immediately and Eriksen was given CPR and emergency medical care on the pitch itself. To protect the player's privacy, both sides stood in a circle while the Inter Milan man was being attended by doctors and medical staff.
It was the moment that united football lovers from all over the world. Social media was flooded with wishes for the former Tottenham midfielder. Everyone was relieved to receive the news of Christian Eriksen's stable condition an hour after the incident.
It was deemed to be a cardiac arrest and the 29-year-old has now left the hospital and is in his recovery stage. In the wake of this incident, the Premier League has plans in place to fund defibrillators at grassroots levels in order to avoid such accidents from happening.
These are our top 5 moments from the EURO 2020 Group Stages. Mention yours in the comment section below.
