London: The 2020 edition of the European Championship gave fans around the world, a plethora of amazement. From the unexpected departure of defending champs Portugal to Italy’s resurrection with an all-win record, the ongoing tournament kept everyone at the edge of their seats.
Denmark’s fairytale run to the semifinals is also to talk about. After Christian Eriksen suddenly collapsed on the pitch in their opening loss against Finland, the Danes’ comeback needs worth mentioning. 20-year-old Mikkel Damsgaard’s curling a freekick past England’s Jordan Pickford in the semifinals also left the fans wanting for more.
Besides, there were several individual performances that took the world by amazement and earning them the tag as the contenders for the best. Sportslight Media takes a look at some of those.
Golden Boot
Labeled as one of the greatest of all time, it’s fairly evident that Portuguese talisman Cristiano Ronaldo would top the Golden Boot charts with five goals and an assist to his name in the tournament. The 36-year-old also equalled Ali Daei’s record of an all-time highest scorer with 109 international goals
Even after Portugal’s early exit, Ronaldo had a grave impact which was evidently noticeable. Talking of getting noticed, Czech forward Patrick Schick did not go unnoticed as well. With Schick’s maiden goal being termed as arguably the best goal of the tournament, Schick went forward to score four more before being eliminated in the quarterfinals by Denmark. English skipper Harry Kane is not far too behind, with four goals already and final to go.
Golden Ball
Italy has the most amazing quality of players and it is fairly possible that the best player of the tournament will be from the Azzuris with Chelsea fame Jorginho topping the list. From scoring the decisive penalty against Spain in the semis which took them to the final, Jorginho has been spectacular.
His teammate Lorenzo Insigne has not provided any less of an impact on Italy’s stellar performances. Paring up with Ciro Immobile, the Napoli forward also has two goals to his name. While talking of impactful players, England’s Luke Shaw should not be left out. With three assists to his tally, Luke Shaw’s consistent performance was a major reason for England’s glory — their first major final in 55 years. Even Brazilian legend Roberto Carlos called Shaw worthy of receiving the Golden ball.
Golden Gloves
This tournament was entirely a show of goalkeepers as they withstood some fiercest attacks. England’s Jordan Pickford leads the race with five clean sheets in the tournament going almost 480 minutes without conceding a goal. His performance went through huge tests against star-studded teams like Germany and Croatia and will be once again put in the test in the final versus Italy on Saturday.
Italian custodian, Gianluigi Donnarumma is not far too behind even though he has three clean sheets to his name. Donnarumma has provided some crucial saves that saw his side in the final. Even with no clean sheets under his sleeve, Switzerland goalie Yann Sommer became a fan favourite making a whopping 21 saves in the tournament. His 10 saves against Spain itself in the quarterfinals were worth mentioning.
