Yann Sommer’s penalty save, Thorgan Hazard’s Belgium winner and the top 5 Bundesliga moments from the Euro 2020 round of 16
Germany may be going home from UEFA Euro 2020, but Bundesliga players still stole the show across the round of 16, from Yann Sommer’s penalty save against Kylian Mbappe to Thorgan Hazard’s winner for Belgium against Portugal and much more.
bundesliga.com picks out just five big moments from Germany-based players in the last 16…
1) Sommer fairy tale
“Sommer hält! Sommer hält!” – Emotional Swiss commentary of Sommer’s shootout heroics against France has been heard countless times around the world since that late night in Bucharest. Switzerland had fought back bravely after going 3-1 down in the wake of their own miss from the spot during normal time, but as ever in a shootout, nerves were frayed.
Sommer’s Borussia Mönchengladbach teammate Marcus Thuram held his against a goalkeeper he knows very well; Borussia Dortmund’s Manuel Akanji, Augsburg’s Ruben Vargas and Wolfsburg’s Admir Mehmedi all did their job against Hugo Lloris as Die Nati converted all five of their spot-kicks and Les Bleus put away their first four before France’s wonderkid stepped up.
Since his senior club debut in 2007, Sommer has saved 19 out of 79 penalties that he has faced (excluding shootouts). That’s a really solid return of a quarter and includes two with Switzerland in the last year – both against Sergio Ramos in one UEFA Nations League match.
And on the day he became the most-capped goalkeeper in Switzerland’s history, he pulled out the party trick again. Eagle-eyed viewers will have seen him point to his left as Mbappe was running up before flinging himself – back foot just on the line – to his right in his typical cat-like manner and getting that strong left hand to the shot above his head.
After a moment of doubt as VAR completed their check, the Gladbach No.1 was able to race off and celebrate his heroics against the world champions and their western neighbours. “At some point the moment comes as a goalkeeper when you can do something – and luckily I did that,” the 32-year-old told SRF afterwards in jubilation about a moment that will live with him and over eight million Swiss people forever.
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2) Hazard ahead
Did you go into these Euros thinking that the top scoring Hazard would be Eden? Well, we didn’t. That’s because Dortmund’s Thorgan has been the better of the eldest two Hazard brothers for a couple of years now, even with injury problems of his own.
That is evident in team selection so far at this summer’s tournament. Robert Martinez has started Thorgan in three out of four games, with the dead-rubber final group game against Finland the one exception. That was the match where Eden was handed his first start.
The 28-year-old old has repaid that faith at left wing-back with two goals so far. The first brought the Red Devils level at the end of a flowing move in their 2-1 group win over Denmark, but it was his eighth international goal in 38 caps that made the headlines.
A dipping and swerving shot from the edge of the box late in the first half fizzed past Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio, ultimately sending Belgium through and knocking out the holders. “In these kinds of games, you have to grab your chances with both hands. And voila! The goalkeeper expected me to choose the other corner, so the ball went in,” Hazard told UEFA.com after the game.
He was also named Star of the Match by UEFA technical observer Gines Melendez, who said of the BVB wide man: “Excellent work in attack and defence, and scored a fantastic goal.” The in-form Hazard perfectly summed up.
3) Another Schick Czeched design
Bayer Leverkusen striker Patrik Schick has been one of the standout performers at Euro 2020. He’s got four goals to his name already, making him the top scorer among the eight teams still in the competition and putting him in an ideal place to pinch the Golden Boot from the already eliminated Cristiano Ronaldo, who leads on five.
The 25-year-old, who has 15 goals from 30 caps with the Czech Republic, announced himself in some style in the first group game against Scotland. His opening goal – a header – was excellent in itself, but then he scored what will surely be the goal of the tournament with a finish from the halfway line – the furthest goal ever recorded at the Euros.
He got one more in the 1-1 draw with Croatia before continuing his fine run into the knockout stage with another clinical left-footed finish to end any Dutch resistance as the Czechs extended their campaign into the quarter-finals.
“It couldn't have gone any better. It's great,” Schick told UEFA.com in the aftermath. “Nobody expected us to make it so far. To beat the Netherlands and perform this well is fantastic. I think each of our supporters here today had a great time. It's incredible.”
4) Zip zap Zuber
Steven Zuber’s Euros campaign has been building up nicely. An unused sub in Switzerland’s opening draw with Wales, a second-half replacement in the loss to Italy, but then the star act in the 3-1 victory over Turkey as the Eintracht Frankfurt winger delivered all three assists – only the second player after former Bayern Munich and Schalke midfielder Hamit Altintop in 2008 to set up a hat-trick of goals in a European Championship match.
That already had Zuber at the top of the assist chart for this year before he claimed the summit outright in the round of 16. The 29-year-old gave Benjamin Pavard a torrid time as Die Nati eventually got the better of France. He beat him to tee up Haris Seferovic for the game’s opening goal before also winning a penalty at the Bayern defender’s expense that could’ve made it 2-0.
The assist for Seferovic was Zuber’s fourth of the tournament, which is a total only four players have previously achieved at the finals (Ljubinko Drulovic in 2000, Karel Poborsky in 2004, and Eden Hazard and Aaron Ramsey in 2016). Nobody has ever recorded more, but Switzerland do still have at least a game to come thanks to his (and many of his Bundesliga-based teammates’) previous heroics.
5) Olmo’s World
It’s going to be a busy summer for Dani Olmo after the RB Leipzig playmaker was also included in Spain’s squad for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, but he’s already impressing on the Euro stage right now.
The 23-year-old was ultimately the difference for Spain as they edged Croatia in extra-time of a thrilling last-16 encounter. Luis Enrique sent on the playmaker with 20 minutes remaining of normal time, and Leipzig’s top provider from 2020/21 turned on the style with two more assists in the space of three minutes to tee up Alvaro Morata and then Mikel Oyarzabal.
It was a moment to savour for the one-time Barcelona academy player who decided he was better off forging a path in Croatia with capital club Dinamo Zagreb. He spent the best part of five years there and the president of the Croatian FA, Davor Suker, even tried to get him to represent the Vatreni.
He remains highly regarded in the Balkan nation and even answered journalists’ questions at the pre-match press conference in fluent Croatian. It was surely written in the stars that he would go on to send three-time European champions Spain through to the quarter-finals at the expense of people he regards as family and friends.
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