We had the team almost made out prior to the Portugal – Iceland game and had a slot ready for Cristiano Ronaldo to fill.
But, as we’re sure you know, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget and nobody from the final Group F fixture made the cut in our team of the opening round.
The upsets arrived late in the round with Hungary’s killing of everyone’s dark horses Austria a result to remember.
Italy’s defensive masterclass is represented in our back four, while our midfield is crammed with talent.
Robbie Brady’s performance for the Republic of Ireland sees him line out alongside the impenetrable Juventus contingent.
Gareth Bale is the only representative of the so-called one-man teams who makes our XI as the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robert Lewandowski and Ronaldo flattered to deceive over the past five days.
Here’s what we have after the first round.
Manuel Neuer (Germany) – Came up with two terrific saves in Germany’s opener against Ukraine. The best in the world and utterly reliable.
Andrea Barzagli (Italy) – Not a natural full back but has deputised for Stephan Lichtsteiner in that position for Juventus and BBC were so impenetrable against Belgium that it would be a shame to break them up.
Leonardo Bonucci (Italy) – As mentioned above, you’re not going to see a better show of defending than Italy’s against Belgium and Bonucci was behind so much of that. He set up Giaccherini’s opener too.
Giorgio Chiellini (Italy) – Could he be the best natural defender in the world right now? He epitomises the old-fashioned centre-half and made Romelu Lukaku’s life miserable on Monday night.
Robbie Brady (Ireland) – The Dubliner was an absolute joy to watch on the left side of Ireland’s defence against Sweden. Perpetually dangerous going forward and starved Zlatan Ibrahimovic of the delivery he so craved.
Luka Modric (Croatia) – He’s not a holding midfielder as such but he did end up playing there at periods against Turkey. He also played at flippin’ centre-half for a few minutes. A magician with the ball at his feet and his volley was stunning.
Andres Iniesta (Spain) – He’s not human! The ball just sticks to his foot and he’s the owner of the best range of passing on earth.
Andres Iniesta's game by numbers vs. #CZE:
100% take-ons
92 passes
5 chances created
1 assistThe Don. #ESP pic.twitter.com/tIEEbKpfWZ
— Squawka (@Squawka) June 13, 2016
Mesut Ozil (Germany) – It was a toss-up between Ozil and his teammate Toni Kroos but the way that Ozil ran the game against Ukraine led us to his selection. Unbelievable cross for Bastian Schweinsteiger’s game-killer.
Gareth Bale (Wales) – A glorious free kick (that probably should have been saved) opened the scoring against Slovakia and his athleticism was a handful throughout.
Dimitri Payet (France) – What a goal and what an important time to score it. So many of France’s big names were let downs against Romania but Payet, not as big a name as Antoine Griezmann or Paul Pogba, came good in all the right ways.
Arkadiusz Milik (Poland) – Always going to play second fiddle to Lewandowski but he tore Northern Ireland apart on Sunday.
Arkadiusz Milik's game by numbers for #POL vs. #NIR:
88% pass accuracy
7 crosses
5 shots
2 chances created
1 goal pic.twitter.com/t6n23NHKms— Squawka (@Squawka) June 12, 2016
