Euro 2024 Data Dive: England scrape through after late drama, Spain make statement

By Sports Desk June 30, 2024

It was another dramatic day in the Euro 2024 knockout rounds, as two more teams booked their places in the quarter-finals.

England fought back from the jaws of defeat as they secured an extra-time win over Slovakia to set up a meeting with Switzerland in the last eight.

Meanwhile, Spain broke Georgia hearts with their comeback victory, and will play Germany in an eye-catching last-eight tie.

Here, we round up the best Opta statistics from the second day of the last 16.

England 2-1 Slovakia (aet): Bellingham, Kane prove late heroes

It looked like England were going to make an embarrassing early exit from the tournament, until Jude Bellingham stepped up with a spectacular overhead kick in stoppage time before Harry Kane netted the winner.

Timed at 94 minutes and 34 seconds, Bellingham's goal was the latest ever for England in normal time at the Euros, coming from the Three Lions' first shot on target after a largely toothless performance.

Kane, on his record-breaking 79th competitive appearance for England, got the timing right too, heading home just 50 seconds into extra time for the fastest goal scored in that period in the competition's history.

The England captain has now scored 14 goals at major tournaments (World Cup and Euros), with only four European players netting more than him – Cristiano Ronaldo (22), Miroslav Klose (19), Gerd Muller (18) and Jurgen Klinsmann (16).

It marked the fourth game that England have won from a losing position at the European Championships as well, after losing their first six such matches.

Only France (five) have ever won more matches when conceding first in the competition, and that late, late show left Slovakia stunned after being just moments from a famous victory in Gelsenkirchen.

Ivan Schranz's third goal at this Euros seemed set to take the headlines, with only Robert Vittek (four) at the 2010 World Cup ever scoring more at a single major tournament for Slovakia, but the forward will not get a chance to equal that record.

Spain 4-1 Georgia: La Roja march on with comeback win

Spain are the only team in the tournament to win all of their games so far, and survived an early scare to come out on top in Cologne thanks to second-half goals from Fabian Ruiz, Nico Williams and Dani Olmo.

Robin Le Normand's 18th-minute own goal saw Luis de la Fuente's side concede for the first time at Euro 2024, only for Spain to rally to the biggest margin of victory by a team that conceded first in the competition.

Spain amassed 17 shots on goal in the first half but only Rodri's first major tournament goal hit the net. It is the most on record (since 1980) by a team in the opening half of a European Championship knockout game.

Indeed, La Roja's 35 shots overall were their most in a single match at either the World Cup (since 1966) or the Euros.

It was the youngsters who stole the spotlight once more as Lamine Yamal got his second assist at the Euros, with Cristiano Ronaldo the last teenager to tee up multiple goals at a single edition (Euro 2004 when he helped Portugal reach the final).

Williams, meanwhile, became the first player on record at the European Championships (since 1980) to score a goal, assist another and complete 100% of his passes (46/46) in a game he started.

Georgia's fairytale was ended by a familiar, formidable foe as they have now lost all seven of their competitive meetings with Spain, conceding 23 goals and netting just four of their own.

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  • Ranieri comes out of retirement to take charge of Roma Ranieri comes out of retirement to take charge of Roma

    Claudio Ranieri has come out of retirement to take charge of Roma until the end of the season.

    The Italian retired in May, calling time on a career in which he famously led Leicester City to a shock Premier League title in 2016 and coached a host of teams from Europe's top leagues, including Chelsea, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Inter and Monaco.

    Ranieri, who last coached Cagliari in Serie A, returns for a third stint in charge of Roma, with whom he came agonisingly close to winning the Serie A title in his first spell between 2009 and 2011.

    Across his previous two spells, the 73-year-old managed 96 games in all competitions, registering 53 wins, with a win percentage of 55.21%.

    "Roma is pleased to announce that Claudio Ranieri is the new Technical Manager of the First Team," Roma said in a statement.

    "At the end of the season he will take on a senior managerial role, he will be an advisor to the ownership for all sporting matters of the club.

    "The search for a new coach will continue in the coming months and Claudio will also have a say in this decision."

    Ranieri replaces Juric, who was sacked after Roma lost 3-2 at home against Bologna on Sunday, leaving them languishing in 12th place in the Serie A standings.

    Juric, who won just four of his 12 games in charge of the club, was Roma's second coach to be fired this season, with Daniele De Rossi being sacked in September.

    According to reports in Italian media, Roma found it difficult to sign a replacement for the Croatian before settling on Ranieri, with former Italy coach Roberto Mancini and Maurizio Sarri among the preferred candidates.

    Ranieri's first game will be away to league leaders Napoli on November 24.

  • Australia 0-0 Saudi Arabia: Visitors denied last-gasp winner on Renard's return Australia 0-0 Saudi Arabia: Visitors denied last-gasp winner on Renard's return

    Saudi Arabia had a stoppage-time goal ruled out as Herve Renard's first game since returning as Saudi Arabia head coach ended in a 0-0 draw against Australia in World Cup qualifying.

    Sultan Al-Ghannam fired through a sea of bodies in the 94th minute of Thursday's Group C contest at AAMI Park, but the celebrations were cut short due to an offside infringement.

    Referee Ali Saeed Al Naqbi had earlier irked the home side by awarding a 12th-minute penalty for an Ahmed Al-Kassar challenge on Mitch Duke, which was then overturned.

    Replays showed the incident happened just outside the box, but Australia felt the Saudi keeper should have been sent off and not issued just a yellow card.

    Joe Gauci pulled off a fine double save later in the first half, albeit the offside flag later went up, but it was Australia who did more to win the game prior to the late drama.

    Brandon Borrello was played clean through on goal and opted to square to Riley McGree, who was unable to help the ball past covering defender Saud Abdulhamid in front of goal.

    Data Debrief: Another blank for both sides

    Australia entered this game without a goal against Saudi Arabia in 2,716 days - a run that will extend for a little while longer after this latest blank.

    The Socceroos have failed to score in three of their five third-round qualifying games, while Saudi Arabia have gone three in a row without netting.

    Tony Popovic's side will justifiably argue they did more to win the game, though, finishing with an expected goals value (xG) of 1.31 to Saudi Arabia's 0.05, but the teams remain locked on points in Group C.

  • Carsley focusing on positives after nine England drop-outs Carsley focusing on positives after nine England drop-outs

    Lee Carsley wants the England players at his disposal to "make the most of the situation" after nine others dropped out through injury.

    Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite on Wednesday became latest player to withdraw from the Nations League games with Greece and Republic of Ireland.

    Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Aaron Ramsdale and Levi Colwill have also dropped out.

    England captain Harry Kane has admitted to being unhappy with the large number of withdrawals for interim boss Carsley's final two games in charge.

    However, Carsley attempted to put a positive spin on the situation when speaking at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday ahead of facing Greece.

    "The focus all camp has been on the players that are here and it's important that we make the most of the situation," he told reporters.

    "With the amount of players that have pulled out, it gives other players an opportunity to be here.

    "We're really looking forward to the game and it's going to be a tough test for us and the focus has been purely on the players that are here.

    "With the amount of pull-outs we've had in the window, historically it's been like that in the past - November has always been a challenging window.

    "But the culture that Gareth [Southgate], Steve [Holland] and the rest of the lads created has made it a really positive environment and the players that are here thoroughly deserve to be here."

    Grealish was one of the first players to withdraw from the squad, having been called up despite not playing for club side Manchester City since 20 October.

    City boss Pep Guardiola questioned England's decision to include Grealish in their squad as he recovers from injury, but Carsley insisted he was justified in doing so.

    "The medical teams are constantly talking throughout squad selection, regardless of whether there are games or not," Carsley said.

    "We are constantly getting updates. The medical departments have brilliant communication between club and country.

    "It was always the case we were going to get the players who were potentially going to miss out in to the assessed. Jack was one of them. He was assessed and sent back and it was as clear as that."

    England trail Group B2 leaders Greece by three points with two rounds of fixtures to play, having lost the reverse fixture 2-1 at Wembley last month.

    The Three Lions have won on all four of their previous trips to face Greece, doing so by an aggregate score of 9-1 - only against Luxembourg (5/5) do they hold a better 100% win rate away from home.

    However, Greece are on the longest active winning run of any European nation in all competitions (five games) and could win six consecutive matches for the first time November 2013.

    Carsley, who will step aside for Thomas Tuchel after next week's home match with Republic of Ireland, said: "We're expecting a tough game against Greece and it’s one we have to win.

    "But we're really looking forward to it, we've had a good week's training, the players are in good spirits and it's going to be a sell out with a great atmosphere.

    "We've had to wait four or five weeks for this, but this next window is so important to us, not just tomorrow but Republic of Ireland as well, so it's a great challenge for us."

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