BEST MOMENT: It was beautiful, touching and uplifting, so soon after a near-tragedy. Shaken fans inside the Parken Stadium were waiting for updates after Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen collapsed on the field during the game against Finland when supporters from the Finnish contingent broke the eerie silence. "Christian! Christian!" they chanted. Danish fans gave their own booming response that reverberated around the venue: "Eriksen! Eriksen!" Within seconds, supporters from both teams united in a huge roar when the stadium announcer said Eriksen was "stable and awake." Soccer, as a whole, gave a collective sigh of relief after one of the scariest incidents in the tournament's history, one which brought the best out of Eriksen's teammates as they tended to him and shielded him but also out of the fans of both teams involved that day. And from that moment on, every single nation competing in the tournament ensured they sent Eriksen their well wishes as did the fans in the stands as proved in the picture above of Belgian fans holding up a message for the stricken star.
Image Credit: AP
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TOP PLAYERS: Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was named UEFA's player of the tournament, chiefly because he saved the decisive penalty in the shootout in the final. But it's hard to look beyond Simon Kjaer...
Image Credit: AP
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BEST PLAYERS: After all, the Denmark captain might have saved a life. It was Kjaer who secured Eriksen's neck, ensured his airways were cleared, and started chest compressions before medics arrived. Kjaer then organized the formation of a protective ring around Eriksen with his teammates and comforted Eriksen's partner when she came onto the field.
Image Credit: AFP
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BEST GOAL: It resembled a golf shot. As the ball rolled loose and just across the halfway line into Scotland's half, Czech Republic striker Patrick Schick took aim from 49.7 meters and managed to curl the ball high and from left to right, straight into the goal vacated by goalkeeper David Marshall. It was outrageous - by more than 10 meters the longest goal in the tournament's history - and some time in the making, with Schick later saying he'd noticed Marshall coming off his line previously and was waiting for the moment.
Image Credit: AP
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BEST GOAL: Making the goal better was the back-pedaling Marshall's desperate dive in a forlorn bid to stop the ball from going in. He got nowhere near and ended up tangled in the netting. It will go down as perhaps the tournament's greatest goal and helped give the Czechs a 2-0 win at Hampden Park in the group stage.
Image Credit: AP
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BIGGEST FLOP: When Kylian Mbappe saw his penalty pushed aside by Switzerland goalkeeper Yann Sommer to end the shootout and consign France to an round-of-16 exit, it capped an underwhelming - some might say disappointing - tournament for a player widely regarded as the new superstar of world soccer. The striker didn't score in four games at Euro 2020, which he started uncomfortably after he went public on Day 3 of the tournament about a feud with teammate Olivier Giroud. He didn't get any better. Mbappe, the breakout star of the 2018 World Cup, surely will be back but he won't fondly remember his first European Championship experience.
Image Credit: AFP
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BIZARRE MOMENTS: France coach Didier Deschamps was in his technical area, waiting for his team's group match against Germany to start, when he was forced to duck into his dugout and put his hands over his head as debris fell from above. A protestor for environmentalist group Greenpeace had just glided into the stadium on a parachute, lost control and struck wires for an overhead camera attached to the roof. That made him veer away from the playing area toward the stadium's main grandstand and he barely cleared the heads of spectators. Several spectators were treated for injuries in the hospital because of the falling debris.
Image Credit: Reuters
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BIZARRE MOMENTS: Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo left the internet in a frenzy as he removed two Coca-Cola bottles at a press conference and asked people to drink water instead.
Image Credit: Euro 2020
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BIGGEST SURPRISE: Reaching the semifinals didn't appear beyond the Danes at the start of Euro 2020. It certainly did, however, after losses in their first two group games and with their most important player, Eriksen, out of the tournament while he recovered from cardiac arrest. How amazing it was, then, to see Denmark - thrust into the role of every neutral's favorite team - get out of its group with a 4-1 rout of Russia at an atmospheric Parken Stadium and then advance to the denouement of the tournament in London with a 4-0 win over Wales and a 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic. A repeat of Euro 1992, when Denmark was added to the tournament at late notice because of Yugoslavia's disqualification, suddenly couldn't be discounted. But a 2-1 loss to England in the semifinals, following the contentious awarding of a penalty in extra time, ended the fairytale. Denmark's players headed home distraught but as heroes to many soccer fans.
Image Credit: AP
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NICE TOUCHES: The match ball being delivered to the center circle for kickoff aboard a small remote-control car proved a neat addition to proceedings, and certainly generated excitement on social media. As did the stirring rendition of "Nessun Dorma" at the opening ceremony by Andrea Bocelli. Italian tenors and tiny cars, it appears, should be regular fixtures at every soccer tournament.
Image Credit: Reuters
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