Euro 2020 continues to throw up some fascinating results and unexpected upsets as world champions France have crashed out of the tournament alongside Germany and Portugal. There were plenty of extraordinary matches and brilliant performances from the first knockout round and here is our Man’s Life Euro 2020 Team of the Last 16.
GK: Jordan Pickford (England)
Jordan Pickford has been faultless in goal throughout the summer and played a key part in England’s 2-0 victory over Germany in the last 16. Pickford’s distribution was excellent throughout the 90 minutes and made two stunning saves off Timo Werner and Kai Havertz to help England keep their 4th clean sheet.
RB: Joakim Maehle (Denmark)
Denmark ran riot against Wales in their 4-0 win in the round of 16 and Joakim Maehle was a constant threat down the wing. Maehle made 4 recoveries and won 9 duels in the game and topped it all off with a superb goal that sealed the victory for the Danes.
CB: Harry Maguire (England)
Harry Maguire was excellent for England at the left of the back three against Germany and was extremely solid throughout the 90 minutes. Maguire was completely dominant in the air and his ball-carrying abilities was incredibly crucial to England’s build-up play at Wembley.
CB: Thomas Vermaelen (Belgium)
Thomas Vermaelen rolled back the years for Belgium against Portugal and produced a gritty back to the wall performance to help the Red Devils qualify for the last 8. Vermaelen comfortably dealt with the aerial threat of Cristiano Ronaldo and neutralised the Portuguese attack alongside Vertonghen and Alderweireld.
LB: Oleksandr Zinchenko (Ukraine)
Oleksandr Zinchenko opened the scoring for Ukraine with a rocket of a strike from his left boot before providing the all-important assist for the winning goal in the 120th minute to send Ukraine into the quarter-finals.
CM: Paul Pogba (France)
Paul Pogba has been one of the standout performers of Euro 2020 so far and continued to dazzle for Les Bleus in their round of 16 tie against the Swiss. Pogba played some wonderful through balls for the likes of Mbappe and Coman from his quarterback position and capped off his performance with a beautiful 30-yard strike straight into the top corner to make it 3-1 to France.
CM: Granit Xhaka (Switzerland)
Granit Xhaka put in one of the performances of the tournament against France to help Switzerland to defy all odds and reach the quarter-finals. Xhaka dominated Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante in the midfield battle and registered the most passes, forward passes and long balls in the entire match and played the crucial pass in the 90th minute for Switzerland’s equaliser.
CM: Tomas Holes (Czech Republic)
The Czech Republic stunned the Netherlands in the first knockout round with a surprise 2-0 victory. One of the standout performers for the Czech’s was central midfielder Tomas Holes who opened the scoring from a corner before providing the assist for the second goal of the game with a driving run from midfield.
RW: Ferran Torres (Spain)
Ferran Torres was restored to the Spanish lineup for their crunch encounter vs Croatia and was a menace down the right flank for La Roja. Torres continuously fired in inch perfect crosses throughout the game and made the difference for Spain in the 2nd half, bagging a goal and an assist which helped put Luis Enrique’s side 3-1 up.
ST: Haris Seferovic (Switzerland)
Haris Seferovic narrowly edges out Kasper Dolberg for the striker spot in our team of the last 16. The Swiss striker bullied the three French centre-halves in the air and scored two thumping headers past Hugo Lloris.
LW: Raheem Sterling (England)
Raheem Sterling continued his fine form for England at the tournament and was excellent for the Three Lions against Germany. The Manchester City forward’s movement and dribbling posed constant questions to the German defence and the Englishman popped up with the crucial goal in the 75th minute to send England to the last 8.
[Image Credit: UEFA Euro 2020]
Shivaan Shah