5 players who shook the Euro

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Micheal Krohn-Dehli (vs The Netherlands): A name Netherlands supporters won’t be forgetting in a hurry.

The Dutch came into the tournament expected to do well, what with their star studded line up. But a desperately poor Dutch side were punished for their miserable finishing by Krohn-Delhi, and he scored the only goal of the Group B opener, setting the Dutch on their way to a quick exit from the tournament.

Laurent Koscielny (vs Spain): Making his first competitive start for Le Bleus against World and European Champions, Spain, could prove nerve wracking for any player.

However, Koscielny, deputising for the suspended Philippe Mexes, bossed the game, and kept the Spanish out for the large part, though the French eventually lost 0-2.

Alan Dzagoev (vs Czech Republic): He was touted as the Next Big Thing a couple of years back, playing for CSKA Moskva, before eventually fading into obscurity.

Russia’s outstanding player of the tournament, he scored, passed, and assisted with such ease, all big clubs are bound to sit up and take notice. A big money move may be in the offing.

Przemyslaw Tyton (vs Greece): Almost all of us never heard of him. Even fewer can actually pronounce his name correct.

Entering the tournament as third choice keeper behind Arsenal duo Szczesny and Fabianski, the PSV Eindhoven stopper had his share of luck, as Fabianski was ruled out of the tournament following a shoulder injury.

He got his real chance when Szczesny was sent off in the 68th minute against Greece. With the match tied at 1 – 1, Tytov’s first bit of action would be to try and stop Greece from scoring from the penalty spot. ... And he did. Diving low to his left, Tyton superbly held on to Karagounis’s spot kick, sending a sigh of relief through all of Poland.

Giorgos Karagounis (vs Russia): Greece’s most capped player and captain is not one of the household names despite having previously been on the books of Inter and Benfica.

However, playing the last major international competition of his career, Karagounis almost single handedly sent Greece into the quarterfinals, scoring the only goal of the game, knocking out a Russian side not heavily expected to qualify top of their group.