The unexpected stars of this Euro? Block master Kalas and the skilled Dane

In every big football tournament, a few players stand out who were not expected to. It was no different at this year’s Euro, where players from Denmark and Italy shone. Despite low expectations, which five players demanded the spotlight?

Joakim Mæhle

Czech fans will remember him for his superb assist on the Danes’ second goal, but Mæhle also shone in other games. He scored against both Russia and Wales and showed hunger, predation and excellent ball handling. Moreover, he doesn’t care which side he plays on.

Leandro Spinazzola

Italy’s left back is not to be missed on the list. Match after match he honed his line until the last minute, was twice named man of the match and notched two assists. He was unluckily injured in the match against Belgium and the tournament ended for him.

Tomas Kalas

Before the tournament, few people trusted him in connection with Ondrej Čelůstka, but both stoppers managed the Euro well. Kalas impressed by not being afraid to jump into any shot.

As a result, he had nine successful blocks and the second highest measured speed in the tournament behind Spinazzola. His important assist against the Netherlands should not be forgotten either.

Granit Xhaka

Has struggled at Arsenal in recent seasons, making the most mistakes of any player in the league that led to a goal (in the last three years), but enjoyed the European Championships. His good performance helped the team to win against the Turks, and he deserves a lot of praise, especially for the game against France, in which he was by far the best on the pitch.

He took his team all the way to penalties, where the Swiss succeeded and made it through to the quarter-finals, where Xhaka himself was unable to play due to yellow cards.

Emil Forsberg

Today, one of Leipzig’s icons will never forget this championship. Forsberg scored four of the Swedes’ five goals in the tournament. First he converted a penalty against the Slovaks, then he scored two nice and important goals from the edge of the box against Poland, and then he split the Ukraine net with a shot from distance. He was not very good in Leipzig this year.

Source: Euro 2021