Austria finished top of Group D after a 3-2 win over the Netherlands on Tuesday, while France could only draw 1-1 with Poland.
In this article, we’ll address some of the key Fantasy talking points from these matches.
For all the goals, assists and stats, check out our Scoreboard piece.
NETHERLANDS 2-3 AUSTRIA
SABITZER SEALS TOP SPOT
Austria have progressed to the knockout stage as Group D winners.
In the round of 16, they’ll face the runners-up in Group F, which will be Turkey, Czechia or Georgia.
It’s some achievement, given that Ralf Rangnick opted to rest Christoph Baumgartner (€6.5m) and Konrad Laimer (€6.0m) for Tuesday’s 3-2 win over the Netherlands, both of whom went into Matchday 3 on a booking.
In truth, Austria have been a breath of fresh air at Euro ‘24.
In classic Rangnick style, their counter-press is really good, but they’re also organised in and out of possession and play with a brand of attacking football that has alluded so many of the top teams in Germany so far.
The nature of their performance against the Dutch was exemplified by the number of ball recoveries they racked up, with Alexander Prass (€6.0m, nine), Nicolas Seiwald (€5.0m, six) and Romano Schmid (€6.0m, six) leading the way.
For the opener, Prass registered his second assist of the tournament, when Donyell Malen (€7.0m) turned his low cross into his own net.
Schmid added a second, before Marcel Sabitzer (€6.5m) scored the winner.
Sabitzer was Austria’s biggest threat and the recipient of UEFA’s Player of the Match award. Deployed in a central role, he received 14 passes in the final third, the most of any Austrian player.
He also attempted three shots, taking his overall tally to nine – only two midfielders have more.
Above: Midfielders sorted by shots (Tot) at Euro 2024
Baumgartner, on as a substitute, supplied the assist.
Meanwhile, Patrick Wimmer (€5.5m) was a threat down the left but will miss Austria’s next match, having picked up his second caution of the tournament.
Austria have never won a knockout game at the Euros but they’ve been one of the tournament’s most impressive teams so far, and on current form, look capable of troubling anyone.
DUTCH UNDERWHELM
As for the Netherlands, they finish third, with their round of 16 opponents still to be decided.
For Tuesday’s clash, they made three changes to their starting XI, with Lutsharel Geertruida (€5.0m), Joey Veerman (€6.5m) and Malen coming in for Denzel Dumfries (€5.5m), Jeremie Frimpong (€5.5m) and Xavi Simons (€7.0m).
However, it resulted in a poor start, so Veerman was hooked for Simons on 35 minutes.
They did at least improve after the break, when Geertruida moved more centrally.
Soon after, Simons fed Cody Gakpo (€7.5m) for the equaliser, before Memphis Depay’s (€7.5m) goal levelled it up at 2-2.
It means Gakpo is the top-scoring forward in Euro 2024 Fantasy so far, having plundered 18 points in the group stage. The Liverpool man has also racked up eight key passes, more than any other player in his position.
Still, bar the lively Malen, the Dutch were poor overall and far too easy to play against.
No surprise, then, that Bart Verbruggen (€4.5m) is joint-top for save points (four) at Euro ’24 so far.
“Will I make big changes now? I don’t know this yet. I will talk to the players first.
“We defended bad. We didn’t mark any players. We weren’t aggressive. We gave the ball to the opponent all the time. Well, that’s a dreadful performance then, yes.” – Ronald Koeman
FRANCE 1-1 POLAND
MBAPPE SCORES, DESCHAMPS ON GRIEZMANN BENCHING
France looked pretty laboured in their 1-1 draw with Poland on Tuesday.
As a result, they finish second in Group D and will play the runners-up from Group E in the round of 16.
But crucially, they are now on the same side of the draw as Spain, Portugal and Germany.
Kylian Mbappe (€11.0m) took to the field for the first time since his nose break and looked reasonably lively, scoring his first Euros goal from the penalty spot.
First playing as a central striker and then on the left wing, he had six shots overall, including three Opta-defined ‘big chances’.
Didier Deschamps did say that his peripheral vision was limited because of the mask, however.
“Despite everything he has gone through, a week after the blow, it was complicated. I thought he was quite good on his feet with the mask. He needed to get used to it. But when he sweats, that sticks in his eyes and he needed to wipe his eyes.” – Didier Deschamps on Kylian Mbappe
Deschamps was happy with Mbappe’s performance though, having left him on for the full 90 minutes.
“He’s hungry to play and the game would have done him some good, especially given what we’re going to be doing [next].” – Didier Deschamps on Kylian Mbappe
France weren’t able to build on their lead and seemed to suffer after N’Golo Kante’s (€6.0m) withdrawal.
Both wingers – Ousmane Dembele (€8.0m) and Bradley Barcola (€6.5m) – looked decent, consistently getting at the Poland full-backs, yet lacked an end product.
France produced 19 shots overall, but through a combination of poor finishing and impressive goalkeeping from Player of the Match Lukasz Skorupski (€4.0m), only scored once.
It means they have only found the net twice at Euro ’24 so far, from an own goal and a penalty.
Antoine Griezmann (€9.0m) had to settle for a place on the bench, meanwhile.
“I know what he can do but I decided that he could have a bit of time off today. He took the news with a smile. For the second game, if he had scored one of his two chances it would have been a different result. Next time we’ll see.” – Didier Deschamps on Antoine Griezmann
As for Poland, they equalised through a retaken Robert Lewandowski (€9.0m) penalty but now bow out of the tournament, having finished bottom of Group D.
9 months, 11 days agoAperol Sabitzer FTW!