Euro 2024 Round of 16: Ronaldo's pain, Bellingham's arrogance, young star's inspiration

(Dan Tri) - The Euro 2024 Round of 16 ended with exciting developments. Italy and Belgium had to say goodbye, Spain and Germany continued their excitement. Ronaldo was once again powerless while Bellingham showed his star value.

Belgium and Italy part ways, France moves forward quietly

The opening round of 16 is the encounter between Italy and Switzerland. In terms of reputation, the country known more for watches than football cannot compare with the reigning champions, owners of 4 World Cup gold cups. However, what actually happened on the field made it difficult for viewers to distinguish between Italy and Switzerland. Coach Luciano Spalletti, a coach pursuing an attacking philosophy, had no intention of applying the Catenaccio defensive style to the Italian team. However, in the face of Switzerland's overwhelming strength, the Azzurri could only huddle together to defend. Granit Xhaka had a sublime match in the role of leader. This midfielder, who plays for Leverkusen, made 98 passes with an accuracy of 95.9% (94 passes), including 37 passes made at the end of the field, of which 36 passes were on target, reaching a rate of 97.3%. Another impressive statistic is that Xhaka played 25 passes through Italy's defensive lines, at least twice as many as any other player on the pitch. At Euro 2024, only Toni Kroos has made more through-the-line passes in a single game than Xhaka.

Italy fell to Switzerland after 90 minutes of complete domination by their opponents (Photo: UEFA).

Thanks to Xhaka's ability to control the game, Switzerland dominated the game, achieving a passing accuracy rate of up to 91.8% and only allowing Italy to launch one shot on target. The result was easily decided thanks to two goals coming quite early from Marco Freuler (37') and Ruben Vargas (46'). Italy had no chance of turning the tables and becoming the former European champions. Switzerland reached the Euro quarter-finals for the second consecutive time, showing that this Central European country not only knows how to make watches but also plays football very well. Besides Italy, another bright candidate had to stop in the round of 16, the Belgian team. The "Red Devils" did not disappoint like the Azzurri army, because the opponent of Kevin De Bruyne and his teammates was the powerful French team. The Belgian team was somewhat inferior, especially in the first half, when they launched only one shot and held the ball 40%. France also appeared to be stuck, especially in decisive passes or finishing shots.

France won against Belgium after 90 minutes of superior play (Photo: UEFA).

In the second half, the game was more open, but scoring was still a distant dream for both sides. The Belgian team with Lukaku was still as unlucky as before. The French striker did not know how to score, but they still knew how to ask the opponent to put the ball into the net. In the 85th minute, Kolo Muani turned to shoot, the ball hit Vertonghen's foot and changed direction into the net. That was the only goal of the match. So far, Les Bleus have only scored 3 goals in 4 matches at Euro 2024, including a successful penalty kick by Mbappe and two own goals. Although not yet explosive, the sluggishness of Deschamps's team makes many teams afraid.

England team struggling, Portugal confused

The two most dramatic encounters in the round of 16 were England's 2-1 comeback against Slovakia and Portugal's penalty shootout win over Slovenia. Both teams would not have struggled if their coaches had not been struggling with personnel issues. After being heavily criticized for their lackluster performances in the three group stage matches, coach Gareth Southgate tried to change his approach. Star Jude Bellingham drifted more to the left to allow Phil Foden to shoot. The Man City midfielder had 5 of the Three Lions' 12 shots against Slovakia. In the midfield area, the problem was still finding someone to pair with Declan Rice in central midfield. The Alexander-Arnold experiment failed completely and was put in a drawer, making way for the option of using Connor Gallagher, a midfielder who brings more balance.

Bellingam and Kane are still the inspiration for England's victory (Photo: Getty).

Then Kobbie Mainoo was brought on from the bench. The young talent of Man Utd somewhat made his mark with mobility and the ability to create breakthroughs more than Gallagher. Despite that, the attacking play of the England team was still extremely disjointed. Until Jude Bellingham showed his star quality with a spectacular overhead kick to equalize the score 1-1 in the 5th minute of extra time, in the 6 minutes of extra time of the match, Southgate's students did not have a single shot on target. In contrast, Slovakia launched 13 shots, creating a total of 2.09xG. That showed how close Southgate and his team were to defeat. Only luck and a flash of star power helped England escape Slovakia. After Bellingham's explosive moment, 50 seconds after the start of extra time, Harry Kane decided the outcome of the match with an accurate cross-angle header. England qualified for the quarter-finals and were up against Switzerland. Bellingham could have proudly spread his arms in celebration in the round of 16, but if Southgate hadn't made timely adjustments in his 100th match as manager of the Three Lions, his luck might not have repeated itself. Not being criticized and under as much pressure as his England counterpart, Portugal coach Roberto Martinez had a headache because of his veterans. Up front, 39-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo missed one chance after another. In defense, 41-year-old Pepe twice ran out of breath, forcing goalkeeper Diogo Costa into a one-on-one with the opposing striker.

Cristiano Ronaldo still leaves disappointment in Portugal shirt (Photo: Getty).

In the case of CR7, this superstar has never had such a disappointing performance. Even Ronaldo himself felt disappointed with himself. The most obvious manifestation was the act of crying after missing the opportunity on the 11m mark during extra time. During the 120 minutes, C. Ronaldo launched 8 shots, in addition to the penalty, he also won the right to take all 4 free kicks, not counting the missed shots due to the delay of time and did not score any goals. After 4 matches at Euro 2024, launching 20 shots, Ronaldo still failed to score. Luckily for Portugal, this team can still rely on goalkeeper Diogo Costa. After making excellent saves during the match, this goalkeeper successfully blocked all 3 penalty kicks of Slovenia, thereby bringing Seleccao to the quarterfinals, with the opponent being the French team.

Coincidentally, Germany and Spain continue their excitement.

The two giants who have played most convincingly since Euro 2024 began are host Germany and Spain. After topping Group A with an unbeaten record, winning 7 points and scoring 8 goals, Die Mannschaft continued to show their strength with a 2-0 victory over "The Indomitable Tin Soldiers" Denmark, a tough opponent. Wind and rain and the VAR storm caused the match between the two teams to be interrupted continuously. The turning point of the match came in the early minutes of the second half, after a pause due to bad weather. In the 48th minute, Joachim Andersen shot the ball into Manuel Neuer's net, but the goal was disallowed because Delaney was offside in the previous situation.

Germany shows its strength as host of Euro 2024 (Photo: Getty).

Just a few minutes later, Andersen suffered another tragedy from VAR when the referees determined that this player handled the ball in the penalty area after a pass from David Raum. The German team was awarded a penalty and Havertz took the opportunity to open the score. If the opening goal was controversial, Die Mannschaft's second goal made everyone convinced. After 28 passes, on the 29th pass, Schlotterbeck sent a long pass over the line to tear through the Danish defense for Musiala to sprint down and then skillfully make a pass into the far corner to seal the score 2-0. This was also the third goal of the young talent playing for Bayern Munich at Euro 2024, equaling the scoring record of Georges Mikautadze - the top scorer. In addition, there were two other names with 3 goals: Cody Gakpo (Netherlands) and Ivan Schranz (Slovakia). If Musiala can still improve his scoring record, Mikautadze will have no chance. The striker's Georgia team had to accept elimination when facing a strong opponent like Spain, the only team that still maintained a perfect record after the round of 16. Similar to the 3 group stage matches, La Roja continued to show their dominance over the opponent as well as the ability of the young wings Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal to make every defense fall apart.

Spain is emerging as the leading candidate to win Euro 2024 (Photo: UEFA).

The surprise came only briefly at the beginning of the match when Georgia opened the scoring thanks to a Le Normand own goal. However, this goal only made the "Red Hurricane", Spain's nickname, more fierce. In the first 45 minutes, La Roja launched 17 shots, the most in Euro history. In contrast, Georgia only had 29 passes in the opponent's final field, the fewest passes ever recorded in a half of a European Cup match. In the second half, Georgia crumbled before the terrible destructive power of Spain. Rodri, Fabian Ruiz, Nico Williams and Dani Olmo scored in turn to bring a resounding 4-1 victory for the Spanish team. And coincidentally, Germany and Spain will meet in the first quarter-final, a match that can be compared to the early final of Euro 2024.

Netherlands turns into a whirlwind, Austria stops before Türkiye

Having barely made it through the group stage, the Netherlands were lucky to only face Romania in the round of 16. If Ronald Koeman and his team had advanced as the third-placed team with the best record, it would be hard to believe that Romania would have secured a ticket to the top spot in Group E.

All-out attacking play helped the Netherlands win big against Romania (Photo: Getty).

Seeing Romania's performance against the Netherlands, it was even harder to believe that this team could top the group. Except for the first few minutes of the game, which was quite exciting to create some trouble in front of goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen's goal, Edward Iordanescu's students appeared to be quite inferior and powerless against the "Orange Storm". The most obvious difference was shown through the goal score and expected goal score. The scoring chances of both sides were 0.28xG for Romania, 2.75xG for the Netherlands and the final result was 3-0. The central midfielders Schouten and Tijjani Reijnders, who were not highly rated, still had an effective performance in controlling the game, in which Reijnders launched 72 passes, 69 of which were on target. Up front, Memphis Depay, Cody Gakpo or the player coming off the bench Donyell Malen had the opportunity to dance to relieve the pressure. However, the opponents in the quarter-finals will not be so easy. Although football is not a bridge, we can still compare it a bit to help us visualize it.

Türkiye is the last team to enter the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 after beating Austria (Photo: UEFA).

In the decisive match in the last round of the group stage, the Netherlands lost to Austria in a convincing manner. In the round of 16, Rangnick and his team had to accept defeat against a more calculating and stubborn Türkiye. And the Netherlands' opponent in the quarterfinals was Türkiye.

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