Post-Final Review of the EURO 2024

The EURO 2024 is over. We’ve seen some shocks, some amazing goals, and an excellent performance by a Spanish team that beat both of the pre-tournament favourites in the Semi-Finals and the Final. It has been 4 weeks of excellent football, and as we’ve covered every stage thus far, it’s time to look back and see how things played out.

How Spain Won EURO 2024

Many pundits wrote Spain off prior to the tournament. On paper, they didn’t seem to have the quality of some other teams in the competition, and they were much younger and more inexperienced than the great, world-beating Spanish teams in the past. Some assumed they would struggle in their group and even those betting on the EURO knockout rounds dismissed them as they had a difficult path to the final.

But they made it, and they did it in style. Let’s see how.

Spain in the Group Stage Against Croatia, Italy, and Albania

Spain were drawn into Group B alongside Italy, Croatia, and Albania. Dubbed the “Group of Death”, it looked like the toughest group in the competition. It was a group of champions and finalists, a group where the lowest-ranked team excelled during qualifying and had already been dubbed a “dark horse” by many pundits.

For this reason, Spain were much lower in the tournament outright betting than favourites France and England, and many bookmakers also gave the hosts, Germany, a better chance.

Spain were the favourites to win the group, but they were the shortest-priced group favourites in the competition. Needless to say, they had a big job on their hands if they were to top the group and had to be very careful to ensure they didn’t finish last or rely on the lottery of a third-place finish.

In the end, however, they had nothing to worry about.

In their opening game, La Roja sailed past Croatia with a comfortable 3-0 win. They opened the Croatian defence at will and created a hatful of chances. In the space of 17 first-half minutes, the game went from a fiercely fought contest that could go either way to a comfortable 3-0 lead. It was over before the first half whistle sounded.

Italy proved to be a tougher challenge in their second game, but again, Spain stepped up and did what was asked of them, winning 1-0. They repeated this against Albania, grabbing another single-goal win and picking up 3 points to finish top. There were some close calls in that game, and Albania will feel like they could have done more, but the job had already been done for Spain, so they didn’t field their strongest 11.

Look back at our preview of Group B

Spain in the Round of 16 Against Georgia

Spain were drawn against Georgia in the Round of 16. They had beaten the Georgians 7-1 during qualifying back in September 2023, so the minnows knew they had their work cut out. That proved to be the case very early in the game as Spain hit the tournament outsiders with wave after wave of attack.

If it was a boxing fight, Georgia would be the fighter on the ropes failing to throw a single punch while Spain ducked, dived, and landed everything but a knockout blow. But then the momentum shifted. Georgia hit the Spanish on the break and grabbed an unexpected goal.

It felt like we could have a major shock on the cards, but that feeling didn’t last. Spain hit back 5 minutes before half-time, and they followed that with a hat-trick of goals in the second half. They ran out 4-1 winners in the end, but if not for some excellent goalkeeping, it would have been much higher. 

They had a total of 35 shots on goal, and 13 of those hit the target. Georgia were given a lesson in the cruelty of elite-level tournament football. It’s a shame, as it would have been interesting to see how the outsiders would have fared against a team that wasn’t in full flow and destined for the title.

Read our EURO 2024 Round of 16 betting preview

Spain in the Quarter-Finals Against Germany

The next stop for Spain was a Quarter-Final against Germany. The oddsmakers had a hard time separating these 2 teams, which is understandable considering Germany had home soil advantage and has also been playing some excellent football.

Olmo got things underway for Spain in the 51st minute but they were pegged back by a German equaliser in the last minute of normal time. It looked like the momentum would swing the way of the Germans. They had a lot of possession and created numerous chances as they searched for an equaliser, and with the home faithful cheering them on, they would surely have enough to find the winner.

But Spain did what all great sides do—they found a winner even when things were against them. They displayed some excellent resilience and spirit to steal the win in the last couple of minutes, saving them the lottery of a penalty shootout and sending them into the Semi-Finals.

Read our EURO 2024 Quarter-Finals betting preview

Spain in the Semi-Finals Against France

At this point, Spain were the tournament favourites. It’s quite an achievement considering they were going up against France—the pre-tournament favourites with many bookies—and England—the second favourites—were still in the competition. It was a testament to how much better Spain had been than both of their rivals.

In the end, they justified the tag of “favourites” by beating the French, and as in the Georgian and German games, they did so when it looked like things were going against them.

France had been very poor in the tournament previously. They hadn’t scored a single goal in open play and had relied on a solid defence—along with a penalty and a couple of own goals—to take them deep in the tournament. But for the first 20 or so minutes, they were a different entity.

France took the lead within 10 minutes, and they had chances to extend that lead as the game wore on. They were able to carve open the Spanish defence in a way that Italy, Germany, and Croatia had failed, and it looked like multiple goals and a French win would follow.

Spain rallied, though. They equalised after 21 minutes with one of the goals of the tournament, and they took the lead just a few minutes later. The French were shell-shocked, and they were unable to recover as a steadfast Spanish defence kept them at bay for the rest of the match.

By the time the full time whistle blew, Spain had recorded just 2 shots on target, both of which hit the back of the net, with 6 shots overall. France had more shots and more shots on target, but they had much less possession and couldn’t do much with the ball when they had it. As soon as Spain took the lead they had the French right where they wanted them, and they cruised into the final.

Read our EURO 2024 Semi-Finals betting preview.

Spain in the Final Against England

Finals are often very cagey affairs, and this one was no exception. Spain were the better side for much of the first half, but they didn’t really test the English defence. At the same time, however, there was very little coming back the other way.

That changed in the second half. Spain exploded out of the traps, and England didn’t know what hit them. England looked flustered and gave away several big chances in the first 5 minutes. Spain took one of those chances to grab the opening goal, but they could have had several more.

As they had done all tournament, England only really started to push when they were getting beat, and they eventually found an equaliser. For a short time, they looked like the better team, but it didn’t last, and following a rapid, well-executed move, Spain took the lead with just a few minutes to play.

England did have a header cleared off the line in the dying moments of the game, but in truth, they were outplayed for the majority and Spain were the deserved winners. They were clearly the better side, both in this game and in the tournament on the whole.

Rodri, who went off injured at half-time, was voted as the Player of the Tournament after the end of the game. He had been a key figure in their midfield throughout the tournament and was pivotal to their success.

An Impeccable Performance

Germany, France, and England all had their chances against Spain, and they may feel like things could have gone their way with a little more luck. But it’s hard to deny just how excellent Spain were during this tournament. They had one of the toughest runs of any team in the competition, and yet they won all of their games.

If France had won, critics may have pointed to their lacklustre attack and suggested they relied too much on defensive football and luck to make it through. If England had won, it would have been a similar story, with fingers being pointed at the fact that they left it so late against Slovakia and the Netherlands, were forced into a penalty shootout against Switzerland, and didn’t really play like the champions of Europe at any point.

But Spain won all of their games, and they did so comfortably in the end. They scored the most goals in the tournament and played some of the most attractive football. They might not have had the best squad in the tournament, but you wouldn’t have known that from watching them play. 

It was an excellent performance from start to finish, and it could signal the start of something special for this Spanish side. It could be the dawn of a new era, one that sees them repeat the successes of the Spanish team of the early-to-mid 2000s.

The Highlights of EURO 2024

Every major tournament throws up a few surprises, and if we’re lucky, we may also see a few broken records. EURO 2024 definitely had its fair share of surprises, and we were very lucky when it came to broken records.

Here are some of the biggest highlights, surprises, and broken records in EURO 2024:

The Fastest Goal

Before EURO 2024, the record for the fastest goal was held by Dmitri Kirichenko, who scored in 67 seconds back in EURO 2004. But Albania’s Nedim Bajrami smashed that achievement when he grabbed the opener against Italy in just 23 seconds. 

Even with Bajrami’s goal, that 2004 record would have still been broken, as Türkiye’s Merih Demiral scored against Austria in 57 seconds.

The Best Games

Türkiye 3-1 Georgia was one of the standout games early in the tournament. We got many glimpses of Georgia’s resilience and skill. They went into the tournament as the rank outsiders, and while they ultimately lost the game, they were excellent. The same is true for Türkiye, who were one of the most out-and-out attacking trams in the whole tournament.

Austria 3-2 Netherlands was also a classic. We were treated to 5 goals, but more importantly, we saw what perennial dark horses Austria can do at their best. In the end, Austria didn’t go as far as many predicted, but they still gave a great showing of themselves.

The aforementioned Spain vs Georgia was another classic. It ended rather one-sided in the end, but the Georgians were tough to break down and looked excellent on the attack. In the end, the winning margin could have been much higher, but for a large part of the first half, it looked like we could have a major shock on our hands.

The Most Cards

There were a lot of yellow cards shown at EURO 2024, but if you take Türkiye and Czechia out of the equation, those numbers look fairly modest. These 2 teams saw 33 yellow cards between them, despite the fact that Czechia didn’t make it out of Group F while Türkiye were dismissed in the Quarter-Finals. It means that Czechia picked up an average of 4.25 yellows per game while Türkiye had 5.

If you watched the group games, you’ll know where we’re going with this, as most of those 33 cards were dished out when these 2 teams met in the final game of Group F.

The referee for that game, István Kovács, showed the first yellow card to Antonin Barák after 11 minutes. He followed this 9 minutes later with a second yellow for Barák. With a little over an hour played, he had shown 6 yellows and 1 red, and then all hell broke loose. By the end, he’d dished out 18 yellow cards and 2 reds, completely annihilating the record for the most cards shown in a EUROs game.

The Most Surprising Results

The first major shock of this tournament came just a few days into the tournament when Belgium were beaten 1-0 by a resilient Slovakia. The Belgians were the clear group favourites prior to this game, and while they had their moments and faced a couple of unfortunate VAR decisions, Belgium were poor.

Albania grabbed a surprise draw against Croatia a couple of days later, but the next biggest surprise came on the 25th when all 4 games went against the odds. Poland drew against France, Serbia grabbed a point against Denmark, Slovenia held England, and Austria overcame the Netherlands.

The following day, debutants Georgia secured a 2-0 win against Portugal that will go down as one of their greatest-ever achievements. In the knockout rounds, the Swiss overcame Italy, and Türkiye beat Austria, but while both of these games went against EURO knockout stage odds, none compared to Georgia’s win for its shock factor.

The Most Surprising Team

If you were looking at any betting strategies for the knockout stages before the tournament began, you would have seen a list of the usual suspects, including Switzerland, Austria, and Türkiye. They all made it into the knockout rounds, and in the case of Switzerland, they were very unlucky in beating the 2020 finalists in the Round of 16 and then losing to the beaten EURO 2020 and 2024 finalists in the following round.

Only the very bravest pundits would have highlighted Albania, Slovakia, and Slovenia for their upset potential in EURO 2024, and yet they gave us the most surprising results.

Slovakia beat Belgium and were a few seconds away from beating England in the Round of 16.

Slovenia drew all of their group games, including against heavily favoured England and Denmark. They then kept Portugal out for 120 minutes before succumbing to a penalty shootout. They conceded just 2 goals in the entire tournament, which is incredible considering they were the outsiders in Group C.

Georgia beat Portugal, as noted above, and after taking the lead against Spain in the Round of 16, they held off the Spanish attack and had their chances to extend to a 2-0 and even 3-0 lead.

The Most Disappointing Teams

EURO 2024 was dubbed by many as the last opportunity for Belgium’s golden generation. It was far from their best opportunity, considering they have long since waved goodbye to the likes of Eden Hazard, Toby Alderweireld, and Dries Mertens, among others, but in Lukaku, De Bruyne, and Courtois, they still had 3 of their top 10 all-time appearance makers, as well as 2 of their top 5 all-time goalscorers.

They also had Onana, Doku, Trossard, and Tielemans. So, it came as a huge surprise when they lost their opening game 1-0 against Slovakia. They did follow this result with a 2-0 victory over eventual Group E winners, Romania, but that turned out to be the highlight of their tournament.

They drew their final group game 0-0 against Ukraine and then lost 1-0 against France in the Semi-Finals. It was a massively disappointing end to their tournament and to the golden generation, and it means that this generation hasn’t made it to a major final (with the best being a third-place finish at the 2018 World Cup) or beyond the Quarter-Finals in the EUROs.

Italy also had a tournament to forget. Despite being the reigning champions, they had a poor run in qualifying that saw them drawn into the Group of Death alongside Spain, Croatia, and Albania. They picked up 4 points in the group but were toppled by the Swiss in the Round of 16. Switzerland were great, but Italy just didn’t show up.

Other Records Broken at EURO 2024

Modern football is a fast-paced, demanding game, especially at an elite level like the European Championships. So, you have to respect the players who are still kicking in their late 30s and early 40s, particularly when several of them assume a starring role for their team.

As always, a lot of eyes were on Cristiano Ronaldo, but the 39-year-old couldn’t extend his record of 14 EURO goals. Modric did grab a goal, though, and in doing so, he became the tournament’s oldest-ever scorer aged 38 years and 289 days. Ronaldo’s teammate, Pepe, also earned a spot in the record books when he became the oldest-ever player aged 41 years and 130 days.

Ronaldo can take consolation in the fact that he has now played at 6 European Championships, which is more than any other player. He has also played 7 more games at the EURO Finals than any other player.

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Summary: More Analyses and Bets with Casumo

We followed this tournament very closely. We have offered both group and knockout betting tips while reviewing performances and offering our opinions on big matchups. We’ve seen every kick, every goal, and every card, and we’ve been there for the big wins, shock results, and lack-lustre performances. Now that it’s all over, we’re just as disappointed as you are! But don’t worry, as there will be more big tournaments and more options to make predictions and place bets. 

We also still have many promotions for you to collect, as well as football-themed slot games like Football Cash Collect and Football Star Deluxe that will tide you over until the domestic season starts.

So, whether it’s the Olympics, FIFA World Cup, or the many major tournaments and events between them, make sure you stick with Casumo for all of your betting and analysing needs. And whether you’re betting on football, playing slots, or wagering anywhere else on our site, remember to gamble responsibly.

Index: The Euro 2024 Betting Guide

1. EURO 2024 Betting Guide
2. The Stages of EURO 2024 Explained
3. EURO 2024: Strategies and Tips
4. The Groups: Group A, Group B, Group C, Group D, Group E and Group F
5. EURO 2024 Betting Guide: Round of 16
6. EURO 2024 Betting Guide: Quarter-Finals
7. EURO 2024 Betting Guide: Semi-Finals
8. EURO 2024 Betting Guide: The Final
9. EURO 2024 Post-Final Review