The much awaited 2016 European Championship is here, only a day remaining to kick off, and the excitement can be felt in the air. Germany go into the tournament as the top-seeded team followed by Spain, as per the UEFA coefficient rankings. But France will be the favourites to clinch the trophy with the added advantage of the home crowd’s support.
There have been many thrillers in the tournament since its commencement in 1960, from last minute Golden Goal winners to nerve-wracking penalty shootouts. Here, we take a look at ten of the best matches that have ever been played in the European Championships.
To choose ten games from so many exciting encounters was tough, and some notable matches which missed the cut were Germany’s 3-2 win over Turkey in the 2008 semi-final, which was decided courtesy a 90th minute Philipp Lahm winner and Portugal’s quarter-final win over England courtesy goalkeeper Ricardo’s heroics in the penalty shootouts.
France 4-5 Yugoslavia, 1960 semi-final
The first match ever to be played in the Euros is also one of the best games of the tournament. The first edition saw 17 teams play the qualification rounds but only 4 made it to the finals.
In the first semfinal, host nation France, who were favourites to win the game, opened a comfortable 4-2 lead over Yugoslavia with only 15 minutes to go. Just as France were looking set to reach the finals, a miraculous three goals in four minutes turned the game upside down!
The city of love and romance lived upto its expectations for the travelling Yugoslavian fans as Drazan Jerkovic grabbed a brace in just over a minute to complete the magical night in Paris. The French had given away a two goal lead at the Parc des Princes stadium in front of 26,370 spectators, a staggering amount in those times.
Yugoslavia eventually finished runners-up after losing the final to USSR.
France 3-2 Portugal, 1984 semi-final
Widely regarded as the best match ever, this clash had everything: A screaming free-kick, a packed stadium going crazy and a 120th-minute winner! Host-nation France went into the match as the overwhelming favourites but had to go through a nail-biting finale to see the Portuguese off.
Jean-Francois Domergue gave France the lead with a powerful top-corner free kick. Despite dominating the game, the Les Blues could not find the net again, and were made to rue their missed chances as Portugal equalized to take the match into extra time, and further rubbed it in by taking the lead in the 98th minute.
With only six minutes remaining to save themselves, Domergue again stepped up to equalize for the French, making the scoreline 2-2. Portugal were defending deep, desperately trying to hold on for the lottery of penalty kicks when a magical moment saw Jean Tigana dribble half the pitch into the Portuguese penalty box to set up Michel Platini for the winner, it broke the underdogs’ hearts.
France went through to their first major championship final and would later go on to clinch the trophy, beating Spain 2-0.
Denmark 2-0 Germany, 1992 final
The year of the underdogs! A Danish team who had failed to even qualify for the tournament and were only included at the last minute courtesy a ban on war-torn Yugoslavia, defied all odds to reach the final and defeated the German giants to win their first ever European championship trophy.
This game wasn’t special as a stand-alone match but marked a glorious page in the tournament’s history. The Danes surprised everyone to emerge out of a group including England, France and hosts Sweden, defeating France in a must win last game of the group stage to advance into the semi-finals. They pulled yet another upset by beating Netherlands on penalties to face world champions Germany in the finals.
Denmark took the lead in the first half through John Jensen’s top right corner strike and sealed the victory with a second goal from Kim Vilfort, completing their incredible fairy tale.
Russia 3-3 Czech Republic, 1996 group stage
In this last game of the group stage, Russia and the Czech Republic had everything to play for as the second spot to qualify for the knockout stages was up for grabs, with already qualified Germany taking on Italy in the simultaneous fixture of the group.
The Czechs were all set to advance to the knockouts having taken a commanding 2-0 lead at half time, but the Russian comeback started soon after the break. Russia levelled the scoreline with two goals in quick succession within ten minutes into the second half, and seemed to have completed the overhaul as Vladimir Beschastnykh put them in front with just five minutes of play remaining.
With Italy drawing their match against Germany, the Azzurri were set to go through alongside the Germans, but the tables had time to turn around once more.
Vladimir Smicer proved to be the super sub of the year, coming on in the 69th minute to take the Czech Republic through to the quarters with his first international goal, that too, an 88th-minute equaliser! This thriller sparked a run that ended with the Czechs losing to Germany in the final through a golden goal winner.
Spain 4-3 Yugoslavia, 2000 group-stage
Believe it or not but this was a time when Spain were the “perennial underachievers” of international football, before they broke their 44-year drought in 2008 to commence an era which earned them the status of God’s gift to football. During Euro 2000, Spain found themselves on the cusp of an unexpected exit from the group stages of the tournament and needed no less than a victory in their final match against Yugoslavia.
This fixture saw Spain comeback thrice to clinch the win in the most dramatic fashion. Yugoslavia took the lead through eventual top-scorer of the tournament Savo Milosevic on the half hour mark, cancelled out just eight minutes later by Spain’s forward Alphonso.
They again went a goal down just after the break but were even quicker to respond, this time, Pedro Munitis scoring with a marvellous curling shot just a minute later.
It looked the same old story for the Spanish contingent as a 10-man Yugoslavia team notched a third goal through a set-piece in the 75th minute. With 90 minutes up, Spain were staring down the gun barrel and six minutes of injury time were added.
Drama ensued in the 90(+4)th minute as Spain were awarded a penalty which was duly dispatched and in an ‘AGUEROOOOO’ style moment, Alphonso clinched the all-important winner in the 96th minute to send his team through.
Italy 0-0 Holland (AET, 3-1 penalties), 2000 semi-final
This match was perhaps the most exciting 0-0 draw ever—a proof that great matches are not only about late winners or Istanbul-esque comebacks. This was the golden era of football when the field was filled with too many legends, the likes of Paolo Maldini, Fabio Cannavaro, Filippo Inzaghi, Alessandro Nesta from the Italian side and Edwin van der Sar, Frank de Boer and Dennis Bergkamp leading the Dutch side.
In this Amsterdam semi-final, Italy were already reduced to 10 men when Gianluca Zambrotta was sent off in the 34th minute and gave away a penalty. Dutch captain Frank de Boer stepped up but his shot was saved by Francesco Toldo.
At the hour mark, Holland were again awarded a spot-kick, and this time, it was Patrick Kluivert’s chance to miss, hitting the post from 12 yards out. Italy somehow hung on and the tie drifted into extra time but could not be settled through a Golden Goal. And then, it was time for the infamous penalty-shootout.
Luigi di Biagio scored Italy’s first spot-kick and for the second time in the night, De Boer walked to the penalty spot to take his, but you could just feel that it wasn’t going to be Holland’s day as the legendary Dutch captain missed the penalty again.
Italy dispatched their first three penalties, and Holland missed three out of their four kicks to end the tie 3-1 in favour of the Azzurri. The Dutch were eliminated on penalties for the fourth time in five major tournaments as Italy advanced to a UEFA EURO 2000 final against France.
France 2-1 Italy, 2000 final
The first final of a major international tournament of the new millennium lived up to its status, as this night in Rotterdam witnessed the most exciting final ever to be played in the tournament’s history.
In a “sharpest sword meeting the strongest shield” encounter, a Zinedine Zidane led France, boasting one of the best attacks throughout Europe were to fight for the honours against one of the best defences of all time in the form Italy’s trio of Maldini, Nesta and Cannavaro.
The first half saw Italy completely shut out France’s attacks, as they managed to contain Zidane and cut out supply lines for the lone frontman Thierry Henry, who was the only Frenchman who looked a threat to the opposition’s defence. The Arsenal striker came the closest to score when he hit the post just 5 minutes after the start of the game.
However, Italy took the lead after 10 minutes into the second half when Marco Delvecchio had to simply tap in a cross from Gianluca Pessoto. France brought on Sylvain Wiltford and David Trezeguet to play with three strikers as Italy looked to defend the lead with all they had.
The substitutions worked wonders as Wiltford equalized in the 93rd minute to force extra time and Robert Pires, who was introduced in the 86th minute, beat three Italians to set up Trezeguet for the Golden clincher to win France this special final.
Greece 1-0 Portugal, 2004 final
Another one for all the neutrals, the victory of the underdogs! This was the first time in a major international tournament where both finalists had also played in the opening game of the tournament.
Greece had begun the tournament with the odds of 80-1 to bag the trophy, and shocked everyone, first emerging out from a group consisting of Portugal, Spain and Russia and then stunning England and Netherlands to book a place in the final. Portugal had also proved their worth as they knocked out defending champions France in the quarters.
The Portuguese were clearly on top in the first half with Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo and Pauleta causing trouble for the Greeks, though Portugal’s defence too had to be alert as Greece managed to create two good chances.
In a purely passionate moment, the travelling Greece fans who were heavily outnumbered rose to their team’s rescue and created a defeaning wall of sound that the Lisbon crowd could not break-through for the remaining first half.
Portugal started the second half just as they ended their first, forcing Greece on to the backfoot. Then the unthinkable happened; Greece took the lead through Angelos Charisteas’ header from a corner just before the hour mark.
From then on, their defensive discipline that had stood steady throughout the tournament showed its iron strength, and Greece held on for the famous win.
Turkey 3-2 Czech Republic, 2008 group stages
Turkey gave thrills after thrills in the 2008 edition of the tournament, and it all started from this gem of a game. They somehow clawed back from two goals down to beat the Czechs in the last game of the group stage and booked their place in the knockout stages on goal difference.
The Czech Republic seemingly, already had one leg in the quarter finals as they went up 2-0 after just 60 minutes, and most Turkish fans must have lost all hopes for advancing further into the tournament.
However, with 15 minutes remaining, Arda Turan pulled a goal back to give some hope to his team. The Czechs still held on but Turkey captain Nihat Kahveci led by example and scored a brace in the game’s dying minutes to hand his team the historic win.
It was a night to forget for Petr Cech as his horrendous mistake in fumbling a cross handed Turkey the equalizer on a plate. Turkey went through alongside Portugal but with a lower goal difference.
They went on to beat Switzerland 2-1 with an injury time goal and saw off Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals after going behind in the 119th minute before losing 3-2 to Germany in the semis and that too, to a last-minute strike, an absolute roller coaster ride of a run!
Spain 1-0 Germany, 2008 final
This match broke the jinx that had surrounded the Spanish team for 44 years and thus began the transition from “perennial underachievers” of international football to formidable world champions, winning everything for the next four years from the Euros to the World Cup.
On paper and right through the tournament, both these teams were a cut above the rest and not many were surprised with these 2 lining up against each other in the final. It was a matchup of two very different ideologies, Spain’s tiki-taka pitched against Germany’s swift counter-attacking play.
After a strong start by Germany, Spain took hold of the game and dominated the match for most of the 90 minutes then on. A burst of speed by Fernando Torres to latch onto Xavi’s through ball and calmly slot the ball across Jens Lehmann settled the encounter.
The Spanish team had numerous chances to extend their lead but the profligacy in front of goal did not come back to haunt them and they ran out worthy champions in the end.
The match was Germany’s legendary player Michael Ballack’s final game, whose only regret in his career would no doubt have been coming so close yet remaining so far with multiple finals and semi-finals, but no silverware to show for it, a fact cruelly highlighted through this game.
Spain were crowned champions after 44 years and went on to win the World Cup in 2010 and defend their title at the 2012 European Championship.
