the eleven guy of the third day

That’s it, the group stage of the Euro is over. This third day was rich in suspense and offered us some surprises. Moreover, the typical team of this third round gives pride of place to the most modest selections which have managed to tear themselves away to get to the round of 16. We start with the Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer. At 32, the Borussia Mönchengladbach player has largely helped the Nati to dispose of Turkey (3-1).

In front of him, it is an Austro-Danish defense. On the right, we find Joakim Maehle. scorer against Russia and elected man of the match by our editorial staff. Then comes the hero Andreas Christensen. Author of a phenomenal face against Russia (4-1), he also guided his people to a historic qualification, while the Scandinavians had lost their first two matches. The Chelsea player is supported in the axis by the Austrian Martin Hinteregger, imperial against Ukraine. On the left, his compatriot David Alaba is obviously present after his assist for Christoph Baumgartner.

In the middle, we chose to line up the Spaniard Sergio Busquets. In tears after the great success of Roja against Slovakia (5-0), the FC Barcelona player has cracked. Deprived of the first two meetings after testing positive for covid-19, Busquets returned to the starting XI and proved he was the boss of the Spanish midfield. In front of him, the Croatian Nikola Vlasic. Admittedly, it was Luka Modric and his outside foot that allowed Croatia to qualify, but the CSKA Moscow player was not unworthy.

The reformed Benzema-CR7 duo

A goalscorer against Scotland too, he gave a lot of regrets to the supporters of his country who still wonder why Zlatko Dalic did not start him in the first two matches. Finally, how not to put the one that has been successful with the Netherlands since the start of this Euro? Author of a double against North Macedonia (his third goal in as many games), Georginio Wijnaldum is essential.

In attack, Arsenal’s nugget Bukayo Saka (19) played his first match in this Euro. And it’s a safe bet that Gareth Southgate won’t be removing him from his eleven guy anytime soon. Hard-hitting, lively, Saka was the blaster of the English game. The little British bombshell is logically accompanied by Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. The two former teammates at Real Madrid each signed a double and CR7 took the opportunity to equal Ali Daei’s record (109 national goals).