Cristiano Ronaldo sets the record
Cristiano Ronaldo’s 105th and 106th goals for Portugal in the 3-0 victory over Hungary took his tally in the European Championship finals to 11, two clear of Michel Platini with whom he’d shared top spot prior to the match. The majority of his goal haul for Portugal, 64 were scored in the second half. Indeed he has been at his most dangerous between the 76th and 85th minutes of matches when he has accumulated 19 goals of that tally.
Strictly for the benefit of those who encounter a lull in conversation when discussing the football, feel free to throw in the following ‘pearls’: Ronaldo has scored 57 goals with his right foot, 24 with his left and 25 headers, of which 10 were direct free-kicks, 12 penalties and 84 from open play.
Number of the day
85 - That's the percentage of possession that the Spanish had during their 0-0 draw with Sweden. They also managed a staggering 917 passes. Fair to say, that they lack a bit of a cutting edge.
Quote of the day
"We know what he can do. It didn't go in for him it's true, but in the next game he can score three and shut everyone's mouth. Let's hope so. We have to win the next match." Manchester City and Spanish defender Aymeric Laporte offered some 'supportive' words to striker Alvaro Morata after he drew a blank in a 0-0 draw with Sweden.
Schick pips Frings
Czech Republic striker Patrick Schick’s stunning long range goal, his second in a 2-0 victory over Scotland, is officially according to Uefa, the longest distance for a goal at 49.7 metres, beating the previous mark established by German midfielder Torsten Frings (38.6 metres) at the 2004 European Championships.
Frings won 79 caps between 2001 and 2009. He was also at the centre of a controversy at the 2006 World Cup when he received a two-match ban for his alleged part in a post match brawl following’s Germany’s penalty shootout win over Argentina.
Fifa adjudicated that Frings had punched Julio Cruz even though the Argentine striker denied that Frings had struck him. The Italian media stoked the fires over the brawl as they were due to meet Germany in the semi-final of the tournament.
Frings missed the game through suspension, a match Italy won. He later said: “This is all politics. The Argentinians attack us, I defend myself and the Italians get worked up. With this suspension, Fifa just wanted to show that Germany doesn’t get special treatment as the World Cup hosts.”
Forsberg not best pleased
Sweden’s Marcus Berg and Emil Forsberg may require a chat following an incident in a 0-0 draw with Spain. Berg scuffed a decent chance in the second half and his teammate’s theatrical reaction to the miss didn’t offer much consolation.
Forsberg’s expression of disbelief was manifest in throwing himself backwards to the ground clutching his head. Berg would not have seen the reaction at the time and one hopes for the esprit de corps that he won’t come across it on any video analysis afterwards.
Who’s the fastest at Euro 2020?
So who’s the fastest player at the European Championships? Manchester United and Wales’ winger Daniel James would be part of any conversation, so too Manchester City and England’s Raheem Sterling and both made it into the current reckoning terms of top speed measured in the tournament to date.
James is in second place having clocked 33.5 kilometres per hour, while Sterling managed a swift 33.1 km/h but they are both behind Italian fullback Leonardo Spinazzola. The 28-year-old Roma fullback managed 33.8km/h.
While contracted to Juventus from 2012 to 2019 he spent time on loan to Empoli, Lanciano, Siena, Atalanta, Vincenza, Perugia and Atalanta again before signing for Roma two years ago. He made his debut for the Italian senior team - he is versatile and can play fullback, wingback and wing - and since then has won 15 caps.
Scoreline all that matters for Lindelof
Manchester United defender and Sweden’s man of the match against Spain Victor Lindelof pointed to the fact that the only numbers that mattered was the final scoreline of 0-0; not how many chances the Spaniards created or in dominating possession.
He said: “For us, it makes no difference if they have that many passes. If they have the ball outside us and can’t find a way in, it makes no difference. In football, it’s about scoring goals, so for me there’s no problem.
“I think they (the Spaniards) got a bit frustrated. They had a lot of the ball and some high pressing at times, but we managed to defend well and clear the ball on many occasions. The longer the match goes, the more frustrated they got.”
Scotland to take the knee
It appears that the Scotland players will take a knee when they face England at Wembley on Friday on a once off basis. In their tournament opener against the Czech Republic at Hampden Park the team ‘stood against racism’ as they have done previously since last March but as a show of solidarity with the hosts in London the visitors will take a knee.
