• Euro 2021 begins this Friday with its battalion of favorites and surprises to come. 

  • The editorial team's sports department will share its in-house predictions with you before the Turkey-Italy kick-off.

  • See you in a month to call us to account, or not. 

Let's take advantage of these few hours which still separate us from the start of the Euro.

They are the best, when the competition is there, very close, but there is still time to focus on the great nation that will knock, the unknown player before the competition who will leave for City for 50 plaques after, or the controversy that we do not want to hear.

So it's time to get a little wet, and the

20 Minutes

sports department

will play its part.

By car Simone.

The team that will be burned too quickly: England

As usual, we see them beautiful and strong. As usual, we'll watch them go home after shifts, smirking. Not that we particularly resent them, there are even some - we admit - that we like to see play, but it remains the English and the traditions, it's important. Of course, they are among the favorites, with their last five victorious games and their army at 745 million euros (the most expensive of the tournament), according to the accounts of L '

Equipe

. The problem is that they will arrive completely rinsed.

The Premier League is an exhausting championship in itself, and to make matters worse seven players of the 11 type will only have half preparation after playing a European Cup final.

So it will pass for the hens despite the lesson inflicted by the Croats, also in the round of 16, because Poland will have lost Lewandowski along the way (we will come back to this), but against Portugal in the quarterfinals, not even bother to 'think about it.

Not everyone can have a $ 2million NASA machine at home to recover like Ronaldo.

The player we had not seen (re) coming: Eden Hazard

Two years since he didn't play a decent game, but we don't know why, we can't help but think that it will be different this summer. Oh, Hazard sure won't fly on the pitch like in Russia - Pavard still has a bit of a runny nose from the drafts three years after the half - but he's never as comfortable as he is. in the middle of his friends of the selection. The Real player won't be quite up to his fitness weight but the urgency of the situation can push him, too. De Bruyne, nose and left orbit fractured in the Champions League final, will not be handed over for the start of the Euro. Belgium needs its captain, for one of the last chances of this generation (with Lukaku and Courtois) in their quest for a major trophy.

The tactical blow we see coming from afar: the Blues will finish in 4-2-3-1 with Rabiot on the left

We know our DD, whatever it makes us a little doubtful with the Benzema twist.

But the diamond, the three-way defense, all that, we know very well that it will no longer be a question after the first indigestible period against Germany in the opening.

The Blues will win the Euro in 4-2-3-1, with Rabiot on the left and Mbappé on the right, full stop.

And don't even be surprised if you see Moussa Sissoko returning from time to time.

Find the calendar of Euro 2021

The big nation that will miss out on: Germany

Not very original, of course, but the Deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft (it's always classier in used cars) is really on the rim before this Euro.

All the ingredients are there to see the quadruple world champions and triple European champions wallow.

Knowing before the competition that your coach will not be there at the end, that has never been a good idea.

The format of this Euro with 92 teams means that they will scratch 3rd place in the pool, and therefore see 8th.

But it won't go any further.

It is not the 7-1 to the Latvian B team that will make us change our minds.

The star who will have to withdraw because of the Covid-19: Robert Lewandowski

The case of poor Jasper Cilessen, excluded from the selection of the Netherlands in full preparation after a positive test, has shown: no one is safe from seeing his Euro end abruptly.

So which major player will the ax fall on (because it will take one)?

We will spare Marco Verratti, who has already given his person twice this season and is busy repairing his knee.

We will avoid doing bad luck by citing a French striker.

Come on, go for Robert Lewandowski, aka mister bad luck since the start of the pandemic.

She stole a cooked Ballon d'Or from him in 2020, so why not mow him in midair in this Euro.

Sorry Poles.

The country that can predict a baby boom nine months after the Euro: Denmark

The news made us smile in 2016 - finally in 2017 - when nine months after the historic victory against England in the round of 16, a mini baby boom was spotted in Iceland. As we love football and knowing happy people, we really want another country to take over this year. After studying the painting, we put a coin on Denmark. Unbeaten in qualifying, driven by elements of the future and experience such as Schmeichel, Kjar, Eriksen or Højbjerg, the Danes will have the advantage of playing their three group matches in front of their supporters in Copenhagen. The people believe in it anyway. "The expectations are quite high, and being realistic, playing the semi-finals would be good," a local journalist told AFP earlier this month.

We can clearly see the 92 European champions grabbing 2nd place in their group behind the Belgians, then taking out Italy and the Netherlands in knife matches that will brighten up the evenings in the country's homes.

It will have to stop at some point, however, we are no longer in the era of the EEC.

And it is France which will take care of it, you can fav.

The cool fan song that will make our ears bleed at the end

Rock you like A Harry Kane

, to the tune of the Scorpions.

By "the young people of the commercial service" of the English Federation.

The controversy that gets us drunk in advance

Saturday June 19, 4:40 p.m.

Hungary valiantly holds up against the clumsy Blues in a molten Puskas stadium, when local defender Loïc Nego unwittingly delivers an assist for Antoine Griezmann, his former teammate in the youth team.

It does not take more to make the naturalized Hungarian defender the number 1 enemy in Budapest.

Threatened, booed, he is even disowned by Viktor Urban, the man who about the idea of ​​kneeling to pay homage to the BLM movement, explained the Hungarians only kneel before God, their country, or their women.

Very good.

Bonus: the person who will be in charge of the Ukraine-North Macedonia live ”, the intern

Because hey, he's here typically for that kind of time.

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