We round up some of the main Fantasy talking points from Monday’s Euro 2024 action in our Scout Notes summary.
For all the goals, assists and stats, check out our Scoreboard piece from after full-time.
AUSTRIA 0-1 FRANCE
Kylian Mbappe (€11.0m) was forced off with a nose injury in France’s 1-0 win over Austria.
The 76%-owned forward picked up the injury in the 86th minute after colliding with the shoulder of Austrian defender Kevin Danso (€4.5m).
He was then booked for re-entering the pitch after receiving treatment without the permission of the referee.
“[Kylian] is not doing well. I can’t say more because I’ve had media duties, but his nose is not good. It’s complicated. That’s the black mark from this evening.” – Didier Deschamps on Kylian Mbappe
“Apparently the nose is not good at all. So we’ll see. It’s obviously the negative point of the evening. Even if it’s just his nose it’s annoying for us.” – Didier Deschamps on Kylian Mbappe
Up until his withdrawal, Mbappe was heavily involved, first claiming the assist for France’s solitary goal before later missing a big chance.
He attempted four shots in total and had the most touches of any French player in Austria’s penalty box (eight).
However, despite heavy involvement, Mbappe delivered just four points, so the captaincy hopes of many Fantasy managers will switch to a Portuguese asset tomorrow.
Didier Deschamps named a strong side to begin their Group D campaign, with Arsenal defender William Saliba (€5.5m) given the nod to partner Dayot Upamecano (€5.0m) at the back.
But it was the French full-backs who impressed most – Jules Kounde (€5.0m) racked up nine ball recoveries, while Theo Hernandez (€5.5m) was a consistent threat down the left flank.
N’Golo Kante (€6.0m) was named Player of the Match, meanwhile, with his all-action display winning over UEFA’s Technical Observer Panel.
France didn’t have it all their own way, however, and Ralf Rangnick’s Austria were good value for large periods.
Nicolas Seiwald (€5.0m) won eight tackles, more than any other player on the pitch, while Mike Maignan (€5.5m) made a good stop to deny Christoph Baumgartner (€6.5m) in the first half.
Austria didn’t have quite enough quality to unlock France, but they are a tricky opponent, with Poland up next in Matchday 2.
Goalkeeper Patrick Pentz started here and is available for just €4.0m in the official Fantasy game.
“We created chances. Of course, France also created chances. Patrick Pentz, our goalkeeper, did a great job. I have no reproaches towards my team. They didn’t always make the right decision, but let’s not forget who the opponents were.
“Our playing style worked for long periods. And this was a good performance from France. Whoever wins our game against Poland will likely go through. But we knew before the tournament that the second game would likely be decisive.
“The Poland game [on Friday] will be like a final. I haven’t analysed them yet because we were focused on this game, but tomorrow it will be different.” – Ralf Rangnick
Austria XI (4-2-3-1): Pentz; Posch, Danso, Wober, Mwene (Prass 88); Seiwald, Grillitsch (Wimmer 60); Laimer (Schmid 90+1), Baumgartner, Sabitzer; Gregoritsch (Arnautovic 59)
France XI (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Kounde, Upamecano, Saliba, Hernandez; Kante, Rabiot (Camavinga 71); Dembele (Kolo Muani 71), Griezmann (Fofana 90+1), Thuram; Mbappe (Giroud 90)
BELGIUM 0-1 SLOVAKIA
Slovakia delivered the first major upset of Euro 2024, as they beat Domenico Tedesco’s Belgium 1-0.
They took a shock lead inside 10 minutes, when Ivan Schranz (€5.5m) capitalised on Jeremy Doku’s (€7.0m) error at the back, and stood firm despite Belgium launching wave after wave of attack.
Romelu Lukaku (€9.0m) was particularly wasteful, squandering three Opta-defined ‘big chances’ in the first half alone. Then, after the break, he twice thought he’d equalised, only for VAR to rule them both out.
On a positive note, Lukaku did at least keep getting into good shooting positions. An unconcerned Tedesco said:
“Romelu has been playing for Belgium for a long time. He knows how to score goals, I don’t need to tell him that. Tonight, he did score goals, and ultimately, they didn’t count, but if he needs anything I’m here for him.” – Domenico Tedesco on Romelu Lukaku
As for Kevin De Bruyne (€9.5m), he was temporarily shifted back into a deeper role in the second half but remained influential throughout, racking up three shots and four key passes.
Elsewhere, Maxim De Cuyper (€4.5m) was an unused substitute, with Yannick Carrasco (€7.0m) preferred at left-back.
Fellow defender Wout Faes (€4.0m) fared better, however, with nine ball recoveries resulting in three additional points, taking him to five overall.
Belgium were unbeaten under manager Tedesco before today, so there is clearly no need to panic, but they must now respond against Romania on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Stanislav Lobotka (€5.5m) impressed in midfield for Slovakia, registering eight ball recoveries. With the Player of the Match award in the bag, he claimed nine points.
“Maybe we were a bit lucky, but we went for the win. Sure, I’m happy for the best player award, but I’m even happier for the win. It was close, but you can’t expect to win by a big margin against a team like that. It’s a good start for us, definitely.” – Stanislav Lobotka
Belgium XI (4-2-3-1): Casteels; Castagne, Faes, Debast, Carrasco (Lukebakio 84); Mangala (Bakayoko 57), Onana; Doku (Openda 84), De Bruyne, Trossard (Tielemans 74); Lukaku
Slovakia XI (4-3-3): Dubravka; Pekarik, Vavro, Skriniar, Hancko; Lobotka, Kucka, Duda (Obert 90+4); Schranz (Duris 81), Haraslin (Suslov 70), Bozenik (Strelec 70)
ROMANIA 3-0 UKRAINE
Nicolae Stanciu (€5.5m) scored a superb goal from outside the box to help Romania to a 3-0 win over Ukraine.
The tournament got off to a nightmarish start for Andriy Lunin (€4.5m), however.
The Real Madrid goalkeeper was the most-owned player on show but Fantasy managers would have been disappointed to see him at fault for two of Romania’s goals.
Yes, he was sold short by Mykola Matvienko (€4.5m) for the opener, but his clearance was poor. It fell to Dennis Man (€5.0m), who found Player of the Match Stanciu on the edge of the box, with the playmaker whipping in a brilliant first-time effort into the top corner from 20-yards out.
Razvan Marin’s (€5.5m) low shot then squirmed under Lunin for Romania’s second, before Denis Dragus (€5.5m) added a third.
With Benfica’s Anatoliy Trubin (€5.0m) and Dynamo Kyiv’s Georgiy Bushchan (€4.0m) also in the squad, this could be the last we see of Lunin as Ukraine’s number one.
As for Romania, they made it difficult for Ukraine, playing narrow and defending deep in a compact 4-1-4-1 formation.
From an attacking perspective, much of their good play came down their right, where Man found himself up against Oleksandr Zinchenko (€5.5m). The Arsenal man is normally used in midfield for his country but had to start at left-back with Vitaliy Mykolenko (€5.0m) only fit enough for the bench.
83.3% of Romania’s chances were created from that side of the pitch, while Man racked up more touches in the final third than any other team-mate, carving out three chances.
With Belgium up next, interest in Romania assets will remain limited, but we do have another starting €4.0m goalkeeper in Florin Nita, who got the nod over Haratiu Moldovan (€4.0m) despite not starting at all during qualifying.
Up until conceding, Ukraine had been on top, but they were rattled by the goal, with Mykhailo Mudryk (€7.0m), Viktor Tsygankov (€6.0m) and Artem Dovbyk (€7.5m) all kept quiet.
Heorhii Sudakov (€6.5m) did at least have four shots, but only one was on target.
Ukraine will understandably be disappointed after this setback, but with the potential for third place to qualify from the group, the tournament is certainly not over.
Romania XI (4-1-4-1): Nita; Ratiu, Dragusin, Burca, Bancu; M Marin (Rus 75); Man (Hagi 62), R Marin, Stanciu (Racovitan 87), Coman (Mihaila 62); Dragus (Puscas 75)
Ukraine XI (4-2-3-1): Lunin; Konoplya (Tymchyk 72), Zabarnyi, Matvienko, Zinchenko; Shaparenko (Yaremchuk 63), Stepanenko (Brazhko 62); Tsygankov (Yarmolenko 63), Sudakov (Malinovskiy 83), Mudryk; Dovbyk
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