Euro 2020 has almost been confined to the history books.
Euro 2020 coming to a close
After weeks and weeks of joyous international action, all eyes turn to Wembley Stadium for the curtain closer between England and Italy to see who will be crowned champions of Europe.
A great part of how Euro 2020 is remembered will be decided by how Sunday’s event play out, but considering that we’ve seen well over 95% of the action already, there are still countless verdicts that we can draw.
And one of them is the Team of the Tournament because barring a Sir Geoff Hurst-like masterclass from somebody this weekend, it’s unlikely that any of the main contenders are going to be dramatically ousted.
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Euro 2020’s best performers
Besides, we’re sure you all have a pretty good idea in your head as to whom you think Euro 2020’s best performer has been and it seems highly likely that Cristiano Ronaldo will bag the Golden Boot.
As such, here at GIVEMESPORT, we’re getting ahead of the game by naming who we consider to be the best starting XI that the European Championships have seen this summer.
With so, so many top performers across the tournament, it’s inevitable that some big names are going to miss out, but we’re satisfied that our line-up is pretty much bang on the money.
To make our decisions, we’ve drawn upon the teams’ relative significance to their team’s output, statistics from WhoScored, SofaScore and FBref as well as, to put the things simply, the eye test.
Euro 2020 Team of the Tournament
That being said, do bear in mind that our selection is merely the opinion of yours truly, which is no more or less legitimate than yours, so be sure to let us know what changes you would make too.
But all that housekeeping aside, let’s jump two-footed into things by unveiling the GIVEMESPORT Team of the Tournament for Euro 2020 down below:
GK: Yann Sommer (Switzerland)
What an absolute hero. Special shoutouts to Jordan Pickford, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Lukáš Hrádecký and Kasper Schmeichel, but Sommer has played like a man possessed at Euro 2020.
When he wasn’t saving Kylian Mbappe’s penalty during the thriller with France, he was ripping up the record books with a tournament-topping 10 saves in the quarter-clash with Spain. Incredible.
RB: Denzel Dumfries (Netherlands)
The Netherlands might have crashed out in the second round, but Dumfries caught the eyes of the world with his stellar displays at wing-back, amassing two goals and two clean sheets in four games.
CB: Harry Maguire (England)
Not only is Maguire rated as the best-performing centre-back at the tournament, but the second-best player overall and that should come as no surprise on the back of his warrior-like performance against Denmark.
CB: John Stones (England)
Look, at the end of the day, England have reached the Euro 2020 final without conceding a single goal from open play and Stones has played almost every second of that journey. Need we say more?
LB: Joakim Maehle (Denmark)
This was comfortably the most difficult selection in the entire team because we secretly wish that we could select two left-backs with Leonardo Spinazzola having been similarly brilliant this summer.
However, we’re edging it to Maehle by the slimmest of margins for a superior tackles total, chart-topping ball carries into the penalty area as well as two goals and arguably the best assist of the tournament.
CM: Jorginho (Italy)
A legitimate Ballon d’Or contender if Italy win on Sunday, Jorginho has been a metronomic presence in their midfield and misplaced just one of his 72 passes in an absolute masterclass vs Belgium.
CM: Paul Pogba (France)
This is the ultimate eye test selection and we don’t care one bit because Pogba is a genuine Player of the Tournament contender in our opinion, dropping masterclass after masterclass for France.
He reportedly incurred the wrath of Benjamin Pavard for his defensive contribution, but tearing apart Germany and Portugal proved once again that Pogba is simply unstoppable for his country.
CM: Pedri (Spain)
Sorry, but we’re not buying a single Team of the Tournament selection if Pedri isn’t heading the midfield because the Barcelona starlet boasts the most shot and goal-creating actions at the entire tournament.
RW: Raheem Sterling (England)
Three goals – all of which were match-winning – is just the tip of the iceberg for Sterling who has been England’s standout player in their first run to a major final in more than half a century.
Sterling provided the stunning assist for England’s opener against Ukraine as well as helping to force the own goal and carve out the penalty for the Three Lions’ iconic 2-1 win over Denmark.
ST: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
We toed and froed on this selection for a long, long time because my gut reaction was actually Patrick Schick who – as Lionel Messi fans will tell you – has scored more goals from open play.
However, we couldn’t ignore the fact that Ronaldo has a superior number of assists, better goal per game ratio and is rated by both WhoScored and SofaScore as the tournament’s best performer.
LW: Emil Forsberg (Sweden)
With four goals in four games, the Euro 2020 Golden Boot would have been Forsberg’s for the taking if Sweden made it past a Ukraine game in which he sensationally rattled the woodwork twice.
