As the 2024 European Championship enters its decisive final week, the quarter-final matchups have been set, featuring some tantalizing showdowns between the tournament’s heavy hitters.
The standout tie of the round will see hosts Germany take on Spain in Stuttgart on Friday. The two best-performing teams of the competition so far will clash earlier than many fans would have hoped, due to an unbalanced knockout bracket that has placed four of the pre-tournament favorites – including Portugal and France – on one side.
The winner of the Germany-Spain clash will face either the reigning champions Portugal or 2016 winners France in the semi-finals. Both of those teams are stacked with star players from Europe’s top clubs.
Elsewhere, England have reached the quarter-finals despite playing well below expectations in their four matches so far. Gareth Southgate’s side scraped past Slovakia, ranked 45th in the world, in the last 16 and now face a Switzerland team that has punched above its weight.
While the biggest names have largely failed to shine, the tournament has been lit up by some brilliant underdog performances. Georgia, the lowest-ranked team in the competition, captured hearts with their run to the last 16, including a stunning 2-0 victory over Portugal in the group stage.
Romania, who had won just once in 16 previous European Championship matches, topped a group featuring Belgium, Ukraine and Slovakia before bowing out to the Netherlands. But the true surprise package has been Turkey, who booked their spot in the quarter-finals with an impressive 2-1 win over fellow upstarts Austria.
One of the most eye-catching features of Euro 2024 so far has been the high number of own goals, with nine already scored – just two shy of the tournament record set at the previous edition in 2021. Some of these have been comical, like when Turkey’s Samet Akaydin’s sloppy backpass resulted in goalkeeper Altay Bayindir and defender Zeki Celik bundling the ball into their own net.
While the continent’s star strikers have struggled, there have been some historic individual performances. Spain’s 16-year-old winger Lamine Yamal has become the youngest player ever to feature at a European Championship, and could become the youngest scorer if he finds the net in the knockout rounds.
At the other end of the age spectrum, Croatia’s Luka Modric set a new record as the oldest player to feature at a Euros, while Portugal duo Cristiano Ronaldo, 39, and Pepe, 41, could surpass the Real Madrid legend.
