Spain dominate Opta’s Euro 2024 Group of the Match after Sunday’s 2-1 remaining victory over England, a end result that clinched a record-breaking fourth European crown.
5 Roja gamers discover themselves in Opta’s stats-based XI, however in addition they contribute probably the most shocking omission, with Participant of the Match Rodri lacking out.
England solely have one consultant regardless of reaching their first match remaining on overseas soil, with Harry Kane’s share of the Golden Boot and Jude Bellingham’s beautiful overhead kick versus Slovakia not sufficient to warrant a spot.
Right here, we run via people who did make the lower, highlighting a few standout stats for every participant.
11 – That is Opta Group of the Match for the #EURO2024 , with the presence of 5 gamers from Spain .
Dominance. pic.twitter.com/79Hq2G9OZ1
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) July 15, 2024
Giorgi Mamardashvili (Georgia)
Georgia shot-stopper Mamardashvili conceded extra targets than every other participant on the match (eight), however 4 of these got here in a last-16 defeat to the eventual champions, and he finds his method in between the sticks.
Starring as Georgia surprisingly escaped Group F, Mamardashvili made 30 saves and prevented 4.76 targets in accordance with Opta’s anticipated targets on track (xGoT) mannequin – the perfect determine on the match.
Joshua Kimmich (Germany)
Germany have been dumped out within the final eight by Spain, and profitable their group by way of a last-gasp Niclas Fullkrug aim versus Switzerland may very well have harmed the hosts as they wound up on the more difficult facet of the draw.
Kimmich was fielded at right-back by Julian Nagelsmann and was instrumental going ahead. In truth, solely Lamine Yamal (17) bettered his 16 probabilities created from open play in simply 5 video games.
Manuel Akanji (Switzerland)
Akanji’s match resulted in despair as he was denied by Jordan Pickford in Switzerland’s quarter-final penalty shoot-out defeat to England, however he was essential for one of many competitors’s finest defences.
Switzerland confronted simply 2.4 photographs on track per sport at Euro 2024, fewer than every other facet, and conceded lower than one anticipated aim per sport (0.95).
Marc Guehi (England)
England’s lone consultant is a person who most would have deemed unlikely to begin earlier than the match started, Crystal Palace centre-back Guehi.
In for the injured Harry Maguire, Guehi contested (29) and gained (13) extra aerial duels all through the match than every other England participant and accomplished 93.5% of his passes.
Marc Cucurella (Spain)
When Luis de la Fuente named Cucurella in Spain’s beginning lineup for his or her opening sport versus Croatia, there have been a lot left open-mouthed by the exclusion of Bayer Leverkusen star Alex Grimaldo.
Nevertheless, simply three defenders have been concerned in additional open-play attacking sequences than Cucurella’s 31, and it was his low cross that led to the match’s decisive second; Mikal Oyarzabal’s 86th-minute remaining winner versus England.
Toni Kroos (Germany)
Kroos might not have loved a dream send-off forward of his retirement, however a collection of metronomic midfield shows left many followers wishing he would lengthen his profession.
He made probably the most line-breaking passes (141) of any participant on the match, additionally finishing 94.3% of his passes beneath strain, the perfect price of any participant (minimal 100 passes tried).
Fabian Ruiz (Spain)
Fabian contributed two targets and two assists all through the match, his driving runs from midfield making him the proper foil for enforcer Rodri and silky playmaker Dani Olmo.
No participant gained possession extra typically than the Paris Saint-Germain man (46 occasions), whereas he additionally recovered the ball seven occasions within the remaining third, setting the tone for De la Fuente’s excessive press.
Lamine Yamal (Spain)
The Younger Participant of the Match, Yamal recorded 4 assists to go together with his semi-final stunner in opposition to France, with no participant on file (since 1980) ever teeing up extra targets at a single version of the European Championships.
Sooner or later after his seventeenth birthday, he surpassed Pele (17 years, 239 days) because the youngest participant to play in a Euros or World Cup remaining, and he made his mark regardless of some strong work from England left-back Luke Shaw, teeing up Nico Williams’ Forty seventh-minute opener.
Dani Olmo (Spain)
Olmo is entitled to really feel somewhat miffed at UEFA’s determination to share the Golden Boot between all six gamers that managed three targets. Underneath the outdated tie-breaking technique, his two assists would have earned him the prize outright.
His most telling contribution, like that of Yamal, got here within the final 4, a luxurious first contact setting him as much as end throughout Mike Maignan for Spain’s winner.
5 aim involvements is the joint-most by a Spain participant at a European Championship, together with David Silva in 2012, and all of the extra outstanding is the very fact he solely began three video games.
Nico Williams (Spain)
The ultimate Spanish consultant, Williams opened the scoring within the remaining to turn into the second-youngest participant to internet in a Euros showpiece match (22 years, two days, behind Italy’s Pietro Anastasi in 1968 at 20 years, 64 days).
Williams posted the next anticipated assists (xA) complete than every other participant (2.06), and was La Roja’s standout attacker when it mattered most in opposition to England.
Cody Gakpo (Netherlands)
The Netherlands might have suffered Ninetieth-minute heartbreak in opposition to England within the semi-finals, nevertheless it was largely due to Gakpo that they made it that far.
Solely Olmo and Yamal (5 every) bettered his 4 aim involvements (three targets, one help) as he earned a share of the Golden Boot. Solely Yamal (15) and Kylian Mbappe (11), in the meantime, bettered his 10 probabilities created following a ball carry.
