Give your opinion Who has been the best footballer of the Eurocup?
Chronicle The Renaissance is fulfilled at Wembley: Italy wins the European Championship
Analysis Southgate's fatal mistake that doomed England
A great national team tournament, be it the European Championship or the World Cup, always contributes to the consolidation of budding stars.
Donnarumma
,
Chiesa
,
Pedri
and
Shaw
respond to that profile, with the Italian goalkeeper as the great standard of the tournament, named MVP, being the first goalkeeper to achieve it (the award has been awarded since 1996). This Euro has also served to confirm the importance of already established or even veteran players, such as
Bonucci
,
Jorginho
,
Maguire
,
Busquets
and
Sterling
.
And of course to make known footballers who until now had gone unnoticed by the general public, the case of
Maehle
and
Schick
.
Goalkeeper
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy)
There have been goalkeepers with more saves (31 from the Swiss
Sommer
) and with fewer goals conceded (two from the English
Pickford
), but none has been as decisive for their team as the new PSG footballer.
It was in the final, stopping the last two penalties from
Sancho
and
Saka
, as it had also been in the semifinals, frustrating
Morata's
launch
.
The Eurocup consolidates him as one of the best goalkeepers in the world and makes him a national hero for Italy.
His is the MVP with full merit.
Donnarumma.AP
Defenses
Joakim Maehle (Denmark)
Surely, the great revelation of the championship with
Schick
.
Nobody expected much from a left-winger who is actually a right-back and who is not even the undisputed starter at his club, Atalanta, but he has been key to the great performance that semi-finalist Denmark has delivered.
He has played every possible minute, scoring two goals and serving an assist.
Arguments that make him win the battle against men who have acted on the right side, the least notable demarcation of the tournament in general.
Leonardo Bonucci (Italy)
The position could have also been filled by his inseparable
Giorgio Chiellini
, but his two goals in the final against England tip the balance in his favor.
He scored the equalizer and then successfully executed his penalty in the shoot-out, as he also did against Spain.
It is now 34 years old but it is still one of the most complete and safest plants in the world.
The Eurocup rewards a long career in the 'Nazionale' and propels him towards the World Cup in Qatar.
Leonardo Bonucci.AFP
Harry Maguire (England)
He begins to be one of those footballers who has a special love affair with national team tournaments.
He already shone in the last World Cup and he has done it again in the Euro, leading the defense with the fewest goals of the entire tournament.
His dominance of the passing game (he has won 21 games and only lost three, in addition to scoring a goal from a corner) has been decisive and consolidates him as one of the best center-backs in the world, despite his rough appearance and lack of speed.
Luke Shaw (England)
If the European Championship had been held when it should have, surely he would have seen it on television.
However, he regained with Manchester United the high level that he showed when he was younger and took the starting position with his team on his own merits.
Consistent in defense and brave in attack, he leaves the tournament with three assists and the goal that uncorked the final, the fastest ever seen in the last match of a European Championship.
Midfielders
Sergio Busquets (Spain)
The best footballers are valued better when they are absent than when they are there and that is what has happened in this European Championship with the Barça footballer.
Spain was one during his loss by Covid and another when he returned to the team, from the match against Slovakia.
After
Toni Kroos
, he was the midfielder with the most passes per game (82) and the highest percentage of completions (73%).
And even above his performance on the pitch, his ascendancy over the group has contributed to consolidating
Luis Enrique's
project
.
Sergio Busquets.AP
Jorginho (Italy)
The revolution in Italy would not have been possible without their participation.
From the position of midfielder, in the image and likeness of Busquets, he gives meaning to the combinatorial football for which
Roberto Mancini
has successfully bet
.
He missed his penalty in the final, but scored the decisive one against Spain.
Like
Emerson
(also born in Brazil), he has been proclaimed European champion of clubs and national teams in the same course, a milestone equal to only 12 other players in all of history.
Pedri González (Spain)
Luis Enrique already said it and he was right: "I have not seen Pedri in this European Championship at the age of 18 to anyone in the European Championship, World Cups or Olympic Games, nor to Don
Andrés Iniesta
. It is something out of all logic."
After a strenuous season with Barça in which only one game (the last) was lost, the Canarian midfielder has played every minute (except one) of the Eurocup.
His dynamism and his reading of the game has allowed Spain to finish the tournament as the team with the most attacks and the second with the most shots, after Italy.
Forwards
Federico Chiesa (Italy)
He started the tournament as a substitute for
Berardi
, but his performance in overtime against Austria catapulted him into the starting eleven.
In that match he scored a goal and repeated in the semifinals against Spain.
In a selection that at times has sinned horizontality, it has acted as a catalyst, providing verticality, overflow and finish.
Also in the final, in which he altered the dynamics of the match until he had to retire due to injury.
Along with Donnarumma, the greatest certainty for the future that the Italian team has.
Patrik Schick (Czech Republic)
Finish the Eurocup as the top scorer, with five goals.
Yes, tied with
Cristiano Ronaldo
(the official award is for him for adding an assist), but the merit of achieving it with one team and another is incomparable, as are the expectations that both generated.
And he is also part of a team that gave the surprise by sneaking into the quarterfinals.
His goal from midfield against Scotland will remain to be remembered, undoubtedly the best of the entire championship.
Patrik Schick.EFE
Raheem Sterling (England)
Despite his performance in the final, in which he went completely unnoticed (he did not even take a penalty), the City winger has been the best player of the
Three Lions
during the tournament and his most differential element in attack, mitigating the late activation of
Kane
.
In the group stage he scored both goals for his team, scored another against Germany, gave an assist against Ukraine and participated in both goals against Denmark.
Little more could be asked of him.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
sports
Euro 2020
Italy Soccer Team
England National Soccer Team
Eurocup From Wimbledon to Wembley: A London Sunday
EurocupAn invasion of flying ants stalks Wembley in time for the final
EurocupTen players to discover at the Eurocup
See links of interest
Last News
2021 business calendar
Home THE WORLD TODAY
Master investigative journalism
Italy - England, live