Euro 2024 Fantasy: Rodri + Morata injury updates, Yamal stars

An entertaining start to Euro 2024 continued on Saturday with 10 more goals spread across three matches.

We’ll address some of the main Fantasy talking points from those games in this article.

For all the goals, assists and stats, check out our Scoreboard piece from after full time.

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SPAIN 3-0 CROATIA

SPAIN DEADLY

Former ball hoggers Spain were once levelled with accusations of being ‘boring’ when they were passing their way to European and world dominance over a decade ago.

There was nothing dull about their performance on Saturday, a display of pace, directness and ruthlessness in front of goal.

The European Championship winners in 2008 and 2012 were three-nil ahead by half-time.

Lamine Yamal looks a bargain at €6.5m. Were it not for the supposedly tricky opening two fixtures (Croatia first, Italy next), we’d have seen him and other Spain players in many more Fantasy teams.

The teenage winger was as undaunted on the international stage as he had been at Barcelona this season. No one on show in this game could better his totals for shots, chances created, penalty box touches or expected goal involvement (xGI).

One assist seemed like scant reward but it was a cracker: a teasing cross poked in by attacking defender Dani Carvajal (€5.5m), another Spaniard whose ownership figure would have been higher were it not for the supposed fixture difficulty.

With Yamal and Neco Williams (€7m) real threats out wide, Alvaro Morata (€8.5m) can look forward to having a bit more space through the middle. He had plenty of it when racing clear on goal to put his country in front.

Space was definitely something that Fabian Ruiz (€6.5m) didn’t have for Spain’s quickfire second goal. Some intricate footwork on the edge of the box later, he too had found the back of the net.

Ruiz was to get a Euro Fantasy clean sweep, assisting Morata’s goal, gaining clean sheet and recovery points and scooping the Player of the Match award.

The win was achieved despite Spain not having the most possession for the first time in 137 games. So long, tiki-taka.

“We are turning Spain into a team that can hurt the opponents in many different ways. We can be effective when we have possession of the ball, but if we are given the chance we are going to run and counter-attack as well.” – Luis de la Fuente

RODRI + MORATA LATEST

Rodri (€6.5m) and Morata were at the centre of injury scares during the game but their manager downplayed those issues later.

“It is nothing serious. Morata had a blow on the calf, and Rodri was just fatigue. He had put a lot in [to the game] and asked for the change. We want to manage the players as much as we can.” – Luis de la Fuente

Rodri’s recovery and clean sheet points were wiped out by a penalty concession and a booking. Not a great start for the fourth-most-owned midfielder.

AN EASIER TEST FOR CROATIA NEXT

A look at the xG (2.01-2.38 in Croatia’s favour) would have given a false impression of the game.

Almost half of Croatia’s expected goal figure came in one bit of 54th-minute penalty box pinball when four different players had a swipe.

Then there was Bruno Petkovic‘s (€6.0m) late penalty miss after usual taker Luka Modric (€7.5m) had already been substituted.

All of these moments came when Croatia were 3-0 down and the game was pretty much gone.

Still, there were glimmers in the first half. Mateo Kovacic (€6.5m) and Marcelo Brozovic (€6.0m) both forced saves, with Lovre Majer (€6.5m) firing into the side netting from the rebound of Brozovic’s effort.

An easier test awaits next in the form of Albania, so there’ll no doubt be Fantasy interest despite the opening loss.

ITALY 2-1 ALBANIA

ITALY RECOVER FROM EARLY MOMENT OF MADNESS

Italy’s win over Albania was more convincing than the scoreline suggests.

The fact that Albania were still in the game late on was mostly down to Italy’s failings. A wayward Federico Dimarco (€5.0m) throw led to Nedim Bajrani‘s (€6.0m) opener in the first minute, while a succession of spurned first-half chances either side of goals from Alessandro Bastoni (€5.5m) and Nicolo Barella (€7.0m) kept the Italians’ advantage slim.

“We liked ourselves too much. I saw a lot of good things, but they have to lead somewhere. They can’t be an end in themselves.” – Luciano Spalletti

The Azzurri were utterly dominant on the ball. Their total of 809 passes in this match is over 100 more than any other nation has managed so far this summer.

From minute eight to 89, Albania didn’t have one shot in the box.

Italy’s front four all had opportunities, big ones in the cases of Gianluca Scamacca (€7.5m), Lorenzo Pellegrini (€7.0m) and Davide Frattesi (€6.5m). Scamacca and Frattesi were denied by saves (and the woodwork in the latter’s case), while Pellegrini fluffed his lines and could only shoulder a great headed chance wide.

Good omens for future returns, then, as was the case with Dimarco. More of a winger at times, his attacking threat was backed up with two shots and two chances created. He took three corners, too. No returns, alas, but lots of promise.

The issue now for Fantasy managers, of course, is that Spain and Croatia await next. If you’re playing the fixtures, Italy players aren’t going to be the first priority.

STRAKOSHA STARTS

Albania were always going to have a €4.0m goalkeeper between the sticks, the question was just over which one. Thomas Strakosha got the nod in the end, performing admirably with three key saves.

He’s an option for Matchday 2, then, for the managers who don’t like to splash the cash on a second playing goalkeeper.

Beyond that, there’s little to interest Fantasy bosses.

Substitute Rey Manaj (€6.0m) had a late, great chance to grab an undeserved leveller but couldn’t squeeze his shot in. That one effort accounted for almost half of Albania’s total xG of 0.51, so you are likelier to be backing Croatia’s defence in Matchday 2 than Sylvinho’s Red and Blacks.

HUNGARY 1-3 SWITZERLAND

SURPRISE STARTER DUAH NETS

Murat Yakin sprang a surprise with his teamsheet but the benching of Xherdan Shaqiri (€6.5m) wasn’t the biggest one.

The Switzerland head coach had said ahead of the tournament that Shaqiri would struggle with matches every four days, so managed minutes look like being an ongoing thing for the former talisman.

The former Stoke City winger didn’t even get onto the field – but he wasn’t missed.

Michel Aebischer (€5.0m) and Kwadwo Duah (€5.5m) were two of the more eyebrow-raising calls, the latter a shock inclusion in the 26-man squad let alone the starting XI.

Duah led the line for the Swiss, his opening goal coming after VAR overturned an incorrect offside call.

Had Breel Embolo (€6.5m) not been working his way back to fitness after a long-term knee injury then Duah might not have started, of course. Embolo emerged from the bench to lob home Switzerland’s late third.

Aebischer was curiously stationed at left wing-back, drifting infield. It was from there that he not only supplied the assist for Duah’s strike but also netted a goal of his own, that strike coming from outside the area and bagging him an extra Euro Fantasy point.

That was his only shot of the match and he indeed didn’t touch the ball in the Hungary area once.

Attacking midfielders Dan Ndoye (€5.5m) and Ruben Vargas (€6.0m) did enjoy lots of penalty box prominence without reward, while Fabian Schar (€4.5m) was a threat with two efforts from set plays and a long-range effort. Classic Schar.

There’ll be a fair few takers for Switzerland players in Matchday 2, with leaky Scotland coming next.

SZOBOSZLAI ASSISTS BUT HUNGARY UNDERWHELM

This was a disappointing display from Hungary, who had chalked up famous wins in England and Germany two years ago and later went on 14 match unbeaten run.

Perhaps blindsided by Yakin’s selection, they looked almost as defensively suspect as Scotland had done on Friday.

Dominik Szoboszlai (€7.0m) did his best to wrestle some control back, creating big chances for Willi Orban (€4.5m) and Barnabas Varga (€6.0m). The second one was converted, Varga making amends for an earlier glaring miss.

Of concern would be Szoboszlai’s zero penalty box touches and shots, the Liverpool man perhaps trying to be everywhere at once by dropping deep and wide in search of the ball.

The fact that Orban, a central defender, had more penalty area touches than any other Hungarian summed his nation’s day up.

It doesn’t get any easier with Germany up next.