Stars who’ll watch the Euros on TV

On July 14, all football fans will have their eyes turned to Germany, where the best football country in Europe will be determined over the course of the next month. Although many stars can be seen at the European Championship finals, many stay away from it: whether the reason is an unfortunate injury, a suspension, poor physical shape or a strained relationship with the national team’s head coach.

OlyBetTV looked at the absentees and put together a list of those men who, like us, will watch the football party via TV screen.

Goalkeeper: Thibaut Courtois

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (32) injured the knee ligaments of his left leg in August last year, and had to undergo an operation. Already then, many thought that the Belgian would have to miss the season because of that.

When the news dropped in March that Courtois, who was eager to return to the field, had injured himself again in training – the meniscus of his right leg – it was certain. However, on the 4th of May, the goalkeeper was as if by magic on the pitch in the Spanish Premier League and ended the year with five consecutive clean sheets, including the Champions League final.

However, such a miraculous comeback did not guarantee him a place in the Belgian national team. This is due to the fact that Courtois seems to have had an irrevocable quarrel with the head coach of the national team, Domenico Tedesco.

To sum it up very simply, the goalkeeper was offended when, in the absence of the usual captain Kevin De Bruyne, the captain’s armband was handed to Romelu Lukaku. Even though Courtois should have been the vice-captain of the national team. Egos at play, quite probably.

Defensive line: Pedro Porro, Mats Hummels, David Alaba

Although right-back Pedro Porro (24), who has scored 11 goals for Tottenham Hotspur this year – 4 hits, 7 assists – was still included in head coach Luis de la Fuente’s selection in the March national team, the coach of the Spanish national team still decided to exclude him from the team going to the European Championship.

Germany’s old champion Mats Hummels (35) was excluded from the Euros team in a similar way. Head coach Julian Nagelsmann justified his decision as follows: “Mats has not played as much this year as before. We also have a different system in the team and one less central defender. We simply have better options at the moment and Mats is not the ideal choice in my eyes. You don’t always have to take the best player, but you have to find the most suitable player.”

While this last part of the reasoning is acceptable, the non-playing part seems odd. After all, the central defender played 40 matches for Borussia Dortmund in all leagues this year and successfully guided the world-class attackers in the Champions League final as well.

The Austrian national team learned already in December that their captain and defensive pillar David Alaba (31) will be left out from the Euros. Namely, the central defender of Real Madrid injured his knee ligaments and then underwent an operation.

Midfielders: Martin Odegaard, Gavi, Michael Olise, Paul Pogba

London Arsenal captain Martin Ødegaard (25) will miss the Euros because he – and Erling Haaland, who we are also talking about – simply did not manage to help Norway to the final tournament. In the selection group, they remained solidly third after Spain and Scotland.

FC Barcelona’s young football wizard Gavi (19) should have been one of the stars of this year’s Euros, but the knee ligament injury he received in November forces him to cheer for the Spanish national team via television.

Michael Olise (22) may have had a wonderful season for Crystal Palace in the Premier League this year – 10 goals and 6 assists in 19 games – but that did not guarantee him a place in the French national team.

However, Didier Deschamps’ decision may cost the French, as it is rumored that the football magician born in London is now considering changing his football nationality. In any case, England’s head coach Gareth Southgate has made it clear that they are keeping an eye on the matter!

August 20, 2023 was the day when Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba (31) from Turin gave a positive doping test: his testosterone level was higher than allowed. Although the lawyers tried to soften the matter, in February, when the B sample also turned out to be positive, the Frenchman was given a four year ban from competition.

Pogba has promised to appeal the matter to the International Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but this way he can only save his future career. He will miss this year’s Euros. However, the whole story is made worse by the fact that in the match where he was tested for doping, Pogba did not even step on the pitch…

Forwards: Erling Haaland, Viktor Goyokeres, Aleksander Isak

Erling Haaland (23) is without a doubt the hottest name who’ll miss this year’s Euros. Of course, the star striker of Manchester City cannot be overly blamed for this, because he still contributed to Norway reaching the Euros.

Namely, Haaland scored six goals in the qualifiers, thus being the seventh best scorer in Europe. In total, City’s centre-forward has scored 27 times for his country in 31 games, but you can’t help it, when your friends are not on par with that yet…

While the Norwegians were defeated by Spain and Scotland in the European Championship qualifying series, the Swedes lost to Belgium and Austria. This is also the reason why we won’t see their magical duo of Alexander Isak (24) – Viktor Gyokeres (25) at the Euros in Germany.

Just to illustrate what we’ll miss: Isak scored 25 goals in 40 games for Newcastle United this year, Gyokeres had 43 goals and 15 assists in 50 games for Sporting Lisbon.

In fact, a very decent second list can be put together from the absentees. How does the following sound?

Goalkeeper: Lukas Hradecky (Finland / Bayer Leverkusen)

Defenders: Pau Torres (Spain / Aston Villa), Victor Lindelöf (Sweden / Manchester United), Stefan Savic (Montenegro / Atletico Madrid)

Midfielders: Isco (Spain / Real Betis), Lewis Ferguson (Scotland / Bologna), Sandro Tonali (Italy / Newcastle United), Dejan Kulusevski (Sweden / Tottenham Hotspur)

Forwards: Christopher Nkunku (France / London Chelsea), Jadon Sancho (England / Borussia Dortmund), Marcus Rashford (England / Manchester United)