European teams waited a long time for this tournament to start and the opening match on Friday set the pace for other teams to give the fans an entertaining tournament.
After failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, Italy was already back on track with a perfect qualifying campaign of 10 wins in 10 matches. Roberto Mancini’s team started its first major international tournament in five years with a convincing 3-0 win over Turkey.
Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen was taken to a hospital on Saturday after collapsing on the field during their opening match against Finland. The Euro 2020 match between Denmark and Finland was suspended after Eriksen was given urgent medical attention on the field near the end of the first half. It resumed after a delay of about 90 minutes, and Finland won 1-0 in its debut at a major tournament.
Late goals from substitutes Michael Gregoritsch and Marko Arnautovic gave Austria a convincing 3-1 victory over European Championship debutants North Macedonia in their opening Group C clash on Sunday as they earned their first major tournament victory in 31 years while Patrik Schick scored twice, including an extraordinary 45-metre effort from just inside the halfway line, to give the Czech Republic a 2-0 win over Scotland in their European Championship opener at Hampden Park in Glasgow on Monday.
It was a record breaking night for Cristiano Ronaldo as the Portuguese captain set the record for most career goals at the tournament with his 10th in the 87th minute from the penalty spot to move ahead of Michel Platini. He added another in injury time to give the defending champions a 3-0 victory over Hungary on Tuesday.
In the meantime, we’ve got enough time to quickly reflect on some of the most eye-catching stats from match day 1 via OPTA stats.
- 1 – Germany have lost their first game in a EUROs tournament for the first time, having won seven and drawn five of their previous 12 such matches. The only side to win the EUROs after losing their opening game of a tournament was the Netherlands back in 1988.
- 3-0 – Portugal’s 3-0 win over Hungary was the joint-biggest win by the reigning champions of the European Championships in their first match of the tournament, equalling the Soviet Union’s 3-0 win over Denmark in 1964.
- 198 – There have been 198 fouls awarded at #EURO2020 so far, the fewest fouls after 10 games of a European Championship tournament since we have full data for the competition (1980), and 48 fewer than at the same stage in 2016.
- 1 – Spain completed 419 passes in the first half against Sweden, the highest figure in the opening 45 minutes of a European Championship game since we have this data available (1980).
- 3 – Grzegorz Krychowiak is the third player to be sent off for Poland at a major tournament (European Championship or World Cup) after Radislaw Sobolewski against Germany at the 2006 World Cup and Wojciech Szczesny against Greece at EURO 2012.
- 6 – Andy Robertson created six chances against Czech Republic; the most by any player at Euro 2020 so far, while only Gary McAllister vs Germany in 1992 (10) has set up more in a single Euros game for Scotland (since 1980).
- 9 – Patrik Schick has been directly involved in nine goals in his last nine starts for Czech Republic in all competitions (7 goals, 2 assists).
- 85 – Denzel Dumfries’ winning goal for the Netherlands in the 85th minute against Ukraine was their latest winning goal at the European Championships since current manager Frank de Boer scored an 89th minute penalty against the Czech Republic in a 1-0 win at EURO 2000.
- 15 – Georginio Wijnaldum has scored 15 goals in his last 26 appearances for the Netherlands, after scoring just eight goals in his first 50 caps for his country.
- 11 – England have won all 11 of their internationals in which Raheem Sterling has scored, the best 100% winning rate when scoring of any player in the national side’s history, overtaking Martin Chivers (10/10).
- 10 – Teemu Pukki scored 10 goals in the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers, eight more than any other Finn (Fredrik Jensen, 2 goals). This is the most ever scored by a Finnish player in a single qualification campaign for a major tournament (World Cup + European Championships).
- 3 – Lukás Hrádecky is only the third goalkeeper to save a penalty on their debut appearance in the European Championships after Przemyslaw Tyton in 2012 (Poland v Greece) and Trols Rasmussen in 1988 (Denmark v Spain).
- 50% – Xherdan Shaqiri has scored or assisted 50% of Switzerland’s goals at major tournaments since 2014 (World Cup + European Championships), netting five and setting up three of his side’s 16 goals in that time.
- 50% – Aaron Ramsey was involved in half of Wales’ goals at their last major tournament appearance in EURO 2016, scoring one and assisting four of their 10 goals.
- 9 – Italy have kept nine consecutive clean sheets, their longest run since keeping 10 in a row between November 1989 and June 1990.