5 Players who Should’ve Been in UEFA’s Euro 2020 Team of the Tournament

Here we have compiled a list of five players that we believe should’ve made it into UEFA’s team of the tournament for Euro 2020.

England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford can feel very hard done by to not have even been considered or mentioned in the same breath as Italy’s Gianluigi Donnarumma throughout Euro 2020, questions could be raised as to whether this is down to his reputation at club level of being slightly error-prone, but in fact, the 27-year-old shot-stopper actually only conceded two goals at the whole tournament, whilst the PSG bound man let in twice as many.

Baring in mind that the free-kick by Denmark’s Mikkel Damsgaard was actually contentious due to the tactical Danish wall being less than one yard away from the England one, as well as the fact that Leonardo Bonucci’s goal in the final was off the back of an incredible save by the Three Lions goalkeeper, he was arguably unlucky to concede any goals at all. The former Sunderland man also saved the same number of penalties as Donnarumma did in the penalty shootout which decided the Euro 2020 final.

Nevertheless, Pickford did become the first goalkeeper in the history of the tournament to keep five clean sheets in the opening five matches, winning the Golden Glove with two games to spare.

Another Englishman who was overlooked by an Italian in UEFA’s team of the tournament is Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw.

The Three Lions full-back has arguably been in the form of his career and made it into the Premier League Team of the Season last campaign and managed to carry his club form into Euro 2020, being part of England’s record-breaking defence and even managed to make some very important contributions going forward which is a vital part of the left-wing-back role he was often deployed in.

Former Southampton man Shaw, managed to score in the Euro 2020 final, becoming just the third ever player to score in a major final for England, as well as making the assist for Gareth Southgate’s sides opener in their 2-0 victory against Germany, whilst also making two assists in their 4-0 quarter-final thumping of Ukraine.

As a left-wing-back there is nothing more that Shaw could’ve realistically done at the tournament, especially considering that Leonardo Spinazzola only managed one assist at Euro 2020 which came in the Azzurri’s 2-1 victory over Austria in the round of 16 at Wembley.

The next player on this list of five players that should’ve made it into UEFA’s Euro 2020 Team of the Tournament is RB Leipzig man Emil Forsberg.

Sweden may have got knocked out of the Euros at the round of 16 stages by Ukraine, which in part could be down to the red card which Marcus Danielson received in extra time, but this shouldn’t really be a considered factor, as Janne Andersson’s side qualified at the top of a tricky group containing Spain, Poland and Slovakia.

29-year-old Leipzig man, Forsberg, was one of the stars of the tournament when his side were eliminated from the competition as a whole, having scored four goals in the Swede’s last three matches at Euro 2020, of which the only game he didn’t score in was his sides 0-0 draw against Spain on matchday one of Group E, where the Swedes had just 15% possession.

Considering Forsberg’s four goals at Euro 2020 were for a nation that were never considered as possible winners of the tournament, his tally sees him sit as the third top scorer in the competition as a whole and as the top-scoring midfielder.

Next up is Patrik Schick of the Czech Republic who set the tournament alight when he created European Championship history by scoring from 49.7 metres out against Scotland at Hampden Park in Group D, the longest-range goal in the history of the competition.

Shick’s wonder strike was actually his second in a brace that day against Scotland and better yet, he wasn’t finished there, as the Bayer Leverkusen man scored in a 1-1 draw against Croatia on matchday two, meaning that his side were guaranteed a place in the knockout stages via being one of the four best third-placed teams.

At the round of 16, the 25-year-old’s side managed to pull off one of the shocks of the tournament by defeating the Netherlands 2-0, of which the Prague born striker scored the second goal of the game to qualify his side for the quarter-finals where they were narrowly beaten 2-1 by Denmark where he even managed to add his fifth and final goal of the tournament.

No player scored more than the Leverkusen forward at Euro 2020, as he bagged five of his side’s six goals at the tournament which was an incredible showing considering the quality of the side that he was playing for.

Last but not least is Cristiano Ronaldo. The 36-year-old’s name might raise a few eyebrows but that is largely due to the lofty standards that the Juventus man has set in previous years. He finished as the Golden Boot winner and still somehow managed to miss out on the Team of the Tournament to the likes of Romelu Lukaku who had two fewer goal contributions than Ronaldo.

Ronaldo broke the all-time record for the most goals scored at the Euros as his five strikes moved him onto 14, five ahead of France’s Michel Platini who had held the record since 1984. The former Real Madrid man also levelled up with Ali Daei’s all-time international goalscoring record when he scored for Portugal’s second goal of the game against France on matchday three in Group F.

At times, Portugal lacked functionality throughout the whole tournament, but this didn’t stop Ronaldo performing in the limited amount of time that he had to prove himself once again, as his braces against France and Hungary, as well as his strike and assist against Germany saw him be involved in six of Portugal’s seven goals at the tournament.