Disappointing Players Of Euro 2020

The Euro 2020 finalists England and Italy will lock horns on Sunday after emerging as the best teams through the competition, after knocking out Denmark and Spain at the semis respectively.

Many people across the football divide had voted France as the trophy favorites but the Le Bleus were not lucky as they were forced out of the competition through spot-kicks by determined Switzerland.

Most players who had amazing runs in their respective clubs much was expected from them as the proverbial saying where much is given much is expected.

As Sport Leo we take a look at some of players who were expected to produce much good results but they failed to deliver as expectations of many.

Here is a list of the most underwhelming and disappointing players at Euro 2020.

Thomas Muller

Thomas Muller played a great role in Bayern running an impressive season with Bayern Munich that saw him bag 15 goals and 24 assists. This prompted Jogi Low to include him in his squad as an experienced player to try and provide a spark of inspiration up front.

But who is Muller, He did totally nothing of that kind. After stumbling through the first two games against France and Portugal, the Bayern forward was then deemed injured and didn’t start the third clash with Hungary but was back in time to do very little aside from missing a glaring one-on-one opportunity against England.

All in all, Muller failed to provide a single goal or assist in four appearances for Germany until they were send out by England.

Ilkay Gundogan

As a crucial member of Manchester City’s title-winning side, Ilkay Gundogan arrived at Euro 2020 as a celebrated Premier League midfielder and potentially the real engine in Germany’s team.

However, the former Borussia Dortmund star instead looked jaded and out of ideas in a midfield partnership with Toni Kroos and managed to stay on the pitch for the duration of the game in just one of his three appearances for Low’s side, before being dropped for the Last 16 clash with England.

Matthijs de Ligt

Photo/Courtesy

Unfortunately a single moment can ruin a player’s entire tournament and that’s exactly what happened to Juventus and Netherlands defender Matthijs de Ligt in his side’s Last 16 clash with the Czech Republic.

When the score was still 0-0 and the Dutch were certainly still in the game, De Ligt had a moment of madness when he went to ground and effectively scooped the ball out of his opponent’s path with his own hand.

The action results in a red card, his team going down to 10 men and undoubtedly them eventually losing 2-0.

Alvaro Morata

Gone are the days when Spain had an abundance of attacking talent, particularly in the central striker role. There is no Raul, no David Villa, no Fernando Torres.

And as such, the polarizing figure of Morata entered the tournament as Spain’s undisputed number one striker, for all his faults.

The problem with Morata is that he can play very well within a game and then miss a series of golden opportunities, and unfortunately for him, it is the chances missed people tend to remember.

He scored a fabulous volley versus Croatia, but that was his best moment of the tournament, while his worst moment was crucial as he missed the losing penalty in the shootout versus Italy.

Benjamin Pavard

The French right back was started in their first fixtures despite rumored concerns of an injury possibility and generally his form.

Although these were not entirely realized in the opening game against Germany, he was badly exposed in a 1-1 draw versus Hungary.

Perhaps his poor club form had placed a seed of doubt in Didier Deschamps’ mind, as Pavard was dropped for the final group match against Portugal, with Jules Kounde, a centre-back by trade, taking his spot.

Bruno Fernandes

A very disappointing to a man who was behind key performance at Old Trafford, in as much as Portugal know all about bending their shape and tactics to accommodate tremendous individual players, like Cristiano Ronaldo it wasn’t but Bruno Fernandes at Euro’s.

(Photo by PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images)

After starting in the opening games against Hungary and Portugal, Fernandes was then dropped against France and then Belgium as manager Fernando Santos went searching for a more rigid and defensive midfield structure.

As such, Fernandes played little more than a late substitute role in the draw with France and the eventual defeat to Belgium and was by no means the key player he is at Old Trafford.

Presnel Kimpembe

None of France’s defenders covered themselves in glory at Euro 2020, but few struggled as significantly as PSG’s Presnel Kimpembe.

Not a player noted for his temperament, the young centre-back was guilty of numerous errors of judgement throughout the competition and generally looked shaky.

This had a knock-on effect on those around him. Is capable of much better.

Kylian Mbappe

Kylian Mbappe costed his team at the most deciding moment. He arrived at the Euro’s promising to be one of the stars of the tournament, but was the most disappointing player in a France side that was eliminated by Switzerland at the semi-final stage.

While Karim Benzema and Antoine Griezmann both found the target over the course of the competition, Mbappe remained frustratingly mute, providing only glimpses of his undoubted talent.

His tournament was summed up by a horribly fluffed effort against the Swiss from close range.

Questions over his future seemed to preoccupy his mind and he was subsequently criticized heavily in the media.