After an exciting conclusion to the Euro 2020 group stage and with the round of 16 beginning over the weekend, there is plenty to take a look back on before heading into the knockouts stage.
Here, Sports Mole goes over three of the key talking points from the groups, and what they could mean for the round of 16 and beyond, helping to inform our decisions to take advantage of matchbook best signup offers.
When the groups were drawn, all eyes were on group F, featuring defending champions Portugal, the two most World Cup winners in Germany and France and a resilient Hungary side who unfortunately found themselves without talisman Dominik Szoboszlai, but still managed to take points off both Germany and France. Arguably the main thing to take away following the conclusion of this group is the disappointing look of Portugal, who were almost single-handedly carried to the final 16 by Cristiano Ronaldo.
The 36-year-old netted five goals in their three games to go clear as the all-time top scorer in European Championships and level Ali Daei's record of 109 international goals, firstly hitting a late brace against Hungary in a 3-0 win after Portugal had struggled to put the Magyarok to the sword. Ronaldo was then pivotal to their opening goal against Germany, as he cleared the German corner and ran the length of the pitch while Diogo Jota carried the ball, finishing off the move for his third goal of the tournament after just 105 minutes of play.
It was in that game that doubts truly started to arise around Portugal, as the 1-0 lead from Ronaldo's opener quickly became a three-goal deficit as Die Mannschaft hit four goals before the hour mark and and a Diogo Jota consolation goal would see the game finish 4-2.
A Selecao then went into a clash with group leaders France on the final day, knowing at least a point was required to see them through, and Ronaldo made no mistake in converting a penalty before goals from Karim Benzema quickly either side of half time saw Fernando Santos's men trail. The Juventus star then won their second penalty of the game as his attempted cross struck the hand of Jules Kounde, and he again slotted the penalty away for his fifth goal of the tournament, levelling the tie and seeing his nation sneak into the final 16.
In the midst of majorly underwhelming performances from key players such as Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva and William Carvalho, Portugal looked on the verge of dropping out of the tournament five years after lifting the trophy, but the former Real Madrid man has once again led his side by example to see them through to the round of 16, and you should consider backing Ronaldo as the top scorer for the tournament, as he currently leads the way with five goals.
On the contrary to a seemingly underperforming Portugal outfit, we have picked out the galvanisation of Denmark as a key point of the group stage, having hugely improved since the first game. After the horrendous incident which saw Christian Eriksen collapse on the pitch in their opening clash with Finland, that would end as a 1-0 defeat for Kasper Hjulmand's men, the players and fans came together in a remarkable way, with a deafening roar at their next clash against a dangerous Belgium side.
Riding on somewhat of a high knowing that Eriksen was stable and conscious to watch the game, Denmark started completely on the front foot, taking the lead in the second minute through Yussuf Poulsen before having several opportunities to put the Belgians to the sword before half time, however the introduction of Kevin De Bruyne for the visitors saw the game flipped on its head as he assisted Thorgan Hazard before netting the winner.
Nonetheless, that game brought about plenty of positivity in the camp after an admirable performance, and they took that into the final game as Denmark thrashed Russia 4-1, with Mikel Damsgaard, Yussuf Poulsen, Andreas Christensen and Joakim Maehle all got on the scoresheet to see De rod-hvide qualify for the round of 16 as one of the best third-placed sides, and they will face Wales in the opening game of the round on Saturday. Having honoured their teammate by growing into the tournament, we would not be surprised to see Hjumland's side put together a strong run in the knockout stage.
Another team to have seemingly grown into the tournament is Spain, who won their final group game having looked at risk of not making the round of 16 from a favourable group.
They started with a goalless draw against Sweden, having dominated the ball in typical Spain fashion, but appeared to lack a killer instinct in the box with 17 shots failing to produce a goal.
Luis Enrique's men were then held to a draw by a Poland, as Robert Lewandowski scored early in the second half to cancel out Alvaro Morata's opener, despite Spain again dominating throughout the match, but they would finally live up to their potential in the final game with their place in the knockout stage at risk.
La Roja took on a struggling Slovakia side in the final game, and Morata's underwhelming form in front of goal continued as his penalty was saved by Martin Dubravka to keep the scores level, but they were then blessed with a stroke of luck as Dubravka scored a shocking own goal on the half-hour mark, flapping a high ball into his net as he aimed to pat it over the crossbar for a corner.
That piece of fortune may have just inspired this Spain side, with Aymeric Laporte doubling the lead with a header on the stroke of half time before second-half goals from Pablo Sarabia and Ferran Torres and a Juraj Kucka own goal sealed a dominant 5-0 win, which could give some confidence to their underachieving attacking line, with Enrique's men now tipped for a solid knockout run, firstly taking on Croatia in the round of 16. body check tags ::
