After two rounds, the situation in Group A and Group B is still unclear, in addition to Croatia, which has already qualified in advance, there is also a sad host who is sure to be out, and the rest of the teams still have a chance to compete for the right to qualify, not to mention the veritable Group C of the Group of Death, which still feels chaotic after two rounds of this group.

In the first round, the Netherlands beat Italy, France drew with Romania, and in the second round, World Cup champions Italy will face Romania, a potential dark horse.

In fact, the two countries have a very deep relationship, as early as more than 1,900 years ago, Romania was even part of the ancient Romans, the ancestors of the Italians.

At that time, the ancient Roman army captured the Kingdom of Dacia, which is now Romania, and turned the latter into one of its own provinces, completing the conquest of the Romanians.

Nearly two thousand years later, the Romanians were given a chance to fight back on the football field, and as long as they did not lose to Italy, they could push the ancient conquerors into a corner.

Romanians are one of the largest minority groups in Italy, with more than 500,000 Romanians living in Italy, many of whom have decent jobs and social status. In Italy, the two most famous Romanians are undoubtedly Zivo and Mutu, the two captains of the Romanian national team.

Ironically, the Romanians will be holding Italy off at the European Championships, but two of their best stars have been produced in Serie A.

Mutu has moved through Serie A with many teams, from Inter Milan to Verona to Parma, Juventus and Fiorentina, with ups and downs, and a constant mix of glory and loss, but there is no doubt that the best years of Mutu's career have been spent in Serie A.

From 2001 to 2003, Mutu developed into a world-class star at Verona and Parma, before losing himself at Chelsea in the Premier League. Drug cases, sex scandals and other troubles almost brought Mutu to a halt, but Juventus saved Mutu and made him a real professional footballer again.

Then in Florence, Mutu rejuvenated the second spring of his career, once again became a hot striker in European football, and this season he partnered with Digan to the front, bringing Fiorentina the glory of the treble.

In comparison, Zivo's football career is not as bumpy as Mutu's, and he became famous with Ajax in the Eredivisie, but he is actually an out-and-out Serie A manufacturer.

Zivo joined Roma from Ajax at the age of 22, before he was just a rising star in European football, but in Rome, Zivo conquered the whole of Europe with a steady and efficient performance, and top giants such as Barcelona and Real Madrid will attack Zivo almost every summer in order to get this versatile player who can both attack and defend. Zivo moved from Roma to Inter Milan last summer and has continued to excel and become an absolute mainstay in the Nerazzurri's backline.

Serie A has produced two of the world's best stars for the Romanians, and now the Italians are battling it out on the pitch with these two Serie A stars.

After Italy's 0:3 loss to the Netherlands in the first game, a storm directed at Italian coach Donadoni initiated by the media, public opinion, and dressing room players was officially launched.

Donadoni's remedy was to put the treasure on Piero and take the captain's armband off Buffon's shoulder and give it to Piero.

The result?

Piero, still the same Piero. Gianluigi Buffon told the world who should be the leader of the Italian team.

Speaking to the Torino media, Piero tried to describe himself as great, saying: "I knew I was going to be captain and frankly, I played for more than 10 years in the national team and even without the armband I could still feel the responsibility of captaincy. ”

The words are very heroic, but it is clear that Piero has forgotten two points, first of all, the Italian team is not his Juventus team, in the Italian team, Piero has indeed survived for more than ten years, but in the tournament, it is not too much to say that he has not achieved an inch, and it is always a bad thing. Secondly, it will be difficult for Piero, even if he is captain, to bring any real change to the Italian team.

However, Piero always has the ability to make every national team manager put the treasure on him. In the same game, as in the past, Piero once again rebelled against the sacred mission that the captaincy should bring with his poor performance.

1：1！

Piero's performances on the pitch could not be described as sluggish, with only two measly shots on goal in his time on the pitch, and both of them sending the ball out of the air in a very exaggerated manner.

When Piero came off the pitch, he did not forget to put the captain's armband on Buffon, who in fact has been Italy's number one star in this game.

In the first half, Buffon saved a one-on-one shot from Mutu, and in the second half, Buffon saved a penalty from Mutu. Throughout the game, the Romanians hit the woodwork with five shots, almost every time it was a threatening stunner, Buffon only missed one goalmouth rush from Mutu and saved all four, and it was Buffon's brilliant performance that gave the Italians the chance to equalise in the final moments of the second half.

No wonder some media said after the game: It was Buffon who kept the Italian team in the European Cup!

And Piero, who Donadoni had high hopes for, was once again disappointed.

As we all know, football in Italy is a country that is looking forward to heroes who can stand up and lead the team forward whenever it falls into adversity.

Historically, Italy has had many such soul figures, from Rossi in 1982, to Baggio in 1994, to Toldo in 2000. However, there has never been a time when this heroic figure is Piero.

Almost every tournament, Piero wanted to be a hero, but almost every tournament, he became a mediocre person. In this game, he took over the captain's armband from Buffon with the support of Donadoni, and he said countless bold words, but perhaps only Buffon is qualified to say that sentence: Even if I don't wear the captain's armband, I can still take the responsibility of captaincy!

Donadoni's national team still failed to win, and after the game, he was also quite embarrassed to accept an interview with the media, he did not make too many comments on his work, but put all the blame on the referee of the game.

'I'm not used to talking about refereeing, I can only say that it wasn't a good day, Toney didn't have any problems with his goal, but it was ruled offside, which was just terrible! We deserved to win the game, but obviously Lady Luck didn't favor us, we created a lot of chances but had to settle for a draw and, of course, despite the difficult situation, we were here and not knocked out. ”

After this campaign, the German World Cup champion 2 games, 1 draw and 1 loss only 1 point, in the "Group of Death" to break through the situation is not optimistic, perhaps as Donadoni said, the Italian team is indeed affected by miscalculation, but such a record for a traditional European team, is still a shame, the last round they will welcome the old enemy France, victory is the only chance for the Italians.

However, Donadoni's line-up in this game has improved considerably from the embarrassing opening game, but it is still far from being blameless.

In the starting line-up, Donadoni listened to the advice of the media and players and made a lot of adjustments, among which the substitutions in the back line and forward line should be said to have had a good effect. Grosso, in particular, made the most of his ability to assist in the game, and his breakthroughs and crosses were Italy's most efficient attacking style in the first half.

However, in midfield, Perrotta and De Rossi did not achieve the desired effect, but compressed Pirlo's space to play.

But even so, Italy was still able to take the initiative in the competition, which shows that the overall strength of the world champion is still very strong.

Perrotta's slump was obvious, and although Roma had a lot of runs in the midfield, it seemed very aimless, and Donadoni also recognized this problem, but his substitutions in this game became a problem that people criticized after the game.

The replacement of Perrotta with Fiorentina youngster Pacini was supposed to strengthen the attack from behind, but this change was made too late.

With Pacini on the pitch, Italy were in a difficult position to choose between attacking and defending, and their tactics were vacillating, with Fiorentina's third-leading scorer on the pitch and not even finding his place, and for a long time Pacini switched back and forth between the front line and the midfield, blurring the positions of other players.

Judging from Pazzini's personal performance, he is in good shape, but he does not have a clear tactical idea, which affects the coordination of the whole team.

And replacing Piero with Montolivo feels inexplicable, although Piero did not perform well on the field, he still has a certain ability to contain on the side, and the key problem is the task of Montolivo after he comes on the field.

Montolivo was used as an attacking midfielder at Fiorentina, with a technical characteristic of being good at attacking from two points and a heavy shot, although Montolivo also played as a winger at Fiorentina last season, but it proved to be ineffective.

More often than not, Montolivo was under Prandelli in the middle, and after Montolivo came on, in the face of Romania's shrinking defense, he could have played his characteristics of grabbing points and strong long-range shooting ability, but Donadoni arranged for him to appear more on the wing.

With Italy lacking a second point of attack other than Toni in the box, it was difficult to make a difference even if they sent more crosses from the flanks, so Montolivo's appearance had little impact on the game.

But the biggest doubter is Donadoni replaced Ambrosini at the last moment, of course, under normal circumstances, there are many reasons to replace Ambrosini, first of all, Camoranesi is already physically exhausted, and it is natural to replace a midfielder, and secondly, the AC Milan vice-captain has header skills and can become another battery, but the fact is that Ambrosini has hardly provided any help to the attack, and he has stayed in the midfield to block Romania's counterattack after coming out. Donadoni's replacement of Ambrosini may be aimed at enhancing the midfield's interception ability and solidifying the defence.

The score was levelled in the final moments of the game, and it was not a mistake to defend solidly in such a situation, but given the circumstances in which Italy found themselves at the moment, it was puzzling.

Italy lost their first game, and if they want to take their fate of qualifying into their own hands, they must win this game against Romania, and a draw is nothing more than a "reprieve from death" for Italy.

But in this situation, Donadoni still chooses to guarantee not to lose, rather than go all out, which is too process-oriented and lacks courage.

If the Netherlands release Romania in the next game, no matter what Italy achieves against France, it will be doomed, and Donadoni's substitution will be a fatal mistake.

In contrast, Romanian coach Pichurk was undoubtedly better in the game, although Romania was weak overall, but it adopted effective tactics to fill the gap in strength to a certain extent.

In the first half, Romania defended solidly, threatening the Italian goal only from set-pieces, and in the second half, when Italy began to lose tactical discipline due to anxiety, Romania suddenly stepped up their counter-attack intensity and commitment, and almost stole a victory from the Italians.

Especially in the final stage, Romania played very resolute counter-attacks, not as stubbornly as in the last game against France, and Pichurk was far superior to Donadoni in terms of tactical clarity and attacking boldness. Now, Romania has the initiative, and Donadoni himself has put his fate in the hands of his opponents.

Italy failed to win against Romania, in addition to Piero's habitual slump in the tournament and coach Donadoni's substitution mistakes, if you really want to find a number one culprit, it is undoubtedly Zambrotta, the former world No. 1 full-back directly "assisted" Mutu in the game to break Buffon's ten fingers, so that the Italian almost died early.

With his long hair and misty eyes, after finally escaping the hellish Iberia, Zambrotta failed to wear a halo to return home, and the Italian full-back seemed to have fallen into some kind of terrible curse, his irresponsible return pass in the 55th minute almost pronounced the death sentence of the Italian team in advance, and his poor performance in the European Championship made the Barcelona mouthpieces secretly rejoice, AC Milan is stumped to be the big boss again?

Before the match between Italy and Romania, Barcelona officially announced that Zambrotta would transfer to AC Milan for 9 million euros, and if Zambrotta can perform well in the Italian club, this transfer will be added to 11 million euros, considering that during Laporta's tenure, Barcelona showed amateurism in selling players, it should be said that Zambrotta can be sold for 11 million euros, which is really surprising to the Catalan media. After two disappointing seasons at Camp Nou, there is no more Barça favourite who misses the former best Italian full-back.

The European Championship is undoubtedly Zambrotta's best chance to prove his worth, the Italian defender needs to prove that Barcelona sold him by mistake with excellent performance, and he needs to prove to AC Milan that the 11 million euros were not spent in vain, but after two rounds of fierce group stage battles, Zambrotta's performance is diametrically opposed, and some media have begun to laugh and talk, fortunately, Zambrotta's deal has been completed before the European Cup, otherwise I don't know how much the price will be lowered.

But Zambrotta was only a façade, and his mistake highlighted the biggest gap between Donadoni's Italian national team and Lippi's world champions, with an instability at the back.

At the World Cup, Italy's defense was rock-solid and indestructible, and it was this desperate backline that gave the Italians a fourth star embroidered on their chests.

In fact, the Italians have always prided themselves on their reinforced concrete defence, and the Azzurri claim to be the best defensive team in the world, especially the Italy team in the '90 World Cup, conceded only one goal in seven games, almost reaching the pinnacle of defensive art.

However, at this European Championship, the Italians' vaunted defence suddenly turned into a sieve, conceding four goals in just two games, not counting a penalty saved by Buffon.

Losing the defence on which they have survived, Italy's record of one draw and one defeat in the opening game is also its worst record since entering the European Championship finals, and even Italy failed to qualify from the group stage four years ago, at least two points from the first two games.

The sudden collapse of the Italian defense, what exactly is the problem?

The biggest difference is naturally Cannavaro's presence or absence, from a technical point of view, Cannavaro is currently the only top defender who is good at marking and grabbing forwards, he is the glue of the Italian defence, the only spine that can connect the entire line.

At the World Cup in Germany, Cannavaro was at the peak of his form, and whether it was paired with Nesta or Materazzi, the performance of the Italian captain could only be described as a miracle, which was also the key to the invulnerability of the Italian defense at that time.

In this European Cup, Italy lost Cannavaro, like being spine-drained, and it has dropped more than one notch in many aspects such as communication and defense, which is naturally far less stable than in the World Cup.

However, Cannavaro is only an individual phenomenon after all, and the lack of Italian defenders is the fundamental reason. In the past, Italy's top defenders have been one after another, and in just the past 20 years, from Bergomi to Baresi to Maldini, Cannavaro and Nesta, the Azzurri have never lacked super defenders, and have never affected the overall defensive quality of the team because of an injury to a core player.

Even two years ago, the substitutes behind Cannavaro and Nesta were still the in-form Materazzi, but in this European Championship, although Materazzi's form is obviously not good, Donadoni still did not dare to put him on the bench in the first game, because the current Italy really lacks enough influence and experience of the Central Generation.

At present, the survival situation of Italian local defenders is that most of the young local defenders with potential are waiting for opportunities in the giants, while the defenders with stable playing time are mostly playing in small teams, but they are the "defective products" picked up by the giants, and their achievements are naturally limited.

Except for one Ranocchia, of course, but unfortunately Donadoni did not trust the young man who had just risen and did not bring him to Switzerland.

Italy are now on their worst record in the European Championship finals, but it's only a tournament after all. Italians are expecting a miracle in the final game against France, but the most important thing for Italy is to really recognise the problems that exist in Italian football through this European Championship.

To lose the defence, to lose the history and glory of Italian football, the impact is extremely far-reaching. If the Italians can refocus on developing defensive talent, it will be worth it for Italy to suffer another defeat in this tournament.

The Italians need to regain their roots, and the French need to change their bloodlines, drawing with Romania in the first game and facing the menacing Netherlands in the second round, the French suffered the same fate.

4：1！

It was the Orange Men who won!

The French team was previously in the first round of the group stage, 0:0 draw was recognized as the weakest Romanian team in the group, the situation is obviously extremely unfavorable for the Gallic Roosters who were divided into the group of death, especially considering that they will also face their old enemies in the final round, and the Italian team that lost in the first round will definitely beat France to fight for points if they want to qualify.

Therefore, for the French team, whether the Netherlands can win all three points in the second game is particularly important, but unfortunately when the 90 minutes are over, Domenech is left with only deep helplessness.

Young coach Basten's team had the last laugh, and they used a hearty victory to show the French that their era was completely over.

3-0 victory over Italy, 4-1 victory over France, the former World Cup champion team, in front of the orange team, can only tremble, after watching these two games, perhaps with the uncrowned king or the iron army and the like, are not enough to describe the strength of the Netherlands. The Netherlands in these two games are the best team in the world in recent years, and perhaps they can be a little higher, and it would be more accurate to describe them as an alien team.

The knife-like striker Basten, after years of forbearance, finally showed the knife-like Dutch team, and as soon as he shot, the unknown ghost under the knife did not die, a world champion, a former world champion, and world football returned to the Basten era.

In the face of such a Netherlands, the group of death is no longer cruel to death, and even if there is hope, Italy and France can choose euthanasia.

For example, if the two sides draw, Romania and the Netherlands, who came on as a substitute, will also draw, Italy and France can go home quietly, without any regrets, and there will not be too many people to regret for them, and the Earth team loses to an alien team, there is nothing to blame.

Of course, there is another way to die, Italy and France are separated from each other and accumulate four points, but Romania beat the substitute Netherlands and accumulate five points, and Italy and France still go home.

Who doesn't know what Italy and France will play next?

Because losing is not only the game, but more importantly, the psychology, I am afraid that for a long time, the self-confidence of this group of players will be difficult to repair, orange in their hearts, I am afraid that it is darker than black.

In the first match against Italy, Van Basten was fiercely criticized by Cruyff after he fine-tuned the Dutch team's formation from the "sacred" 433 to 451.

But Van der Vaart shot back: "Is there a real winger today? In my opinion, only Robben is still a classic type. ”

The stubborn Van Basten certainly won't change himself, and he fielded the same line-up against France as he did in the first game.

Both teams use the 451, the most popular formation, but the connotations are different. Two of the five midfielders of the Dutch team have a greater emphasis on cutting inside, and the overall movement of the Dutch players also shows that their running position is more compact than France, which also plays 451, and even Italy, and the space between the players is closer, which is also an important reason why the Dutch team controls the midfield and has a high pass success rate between the forwards.

In today's popularity of 451, people have been worried that football will pay more and more attention to defense, but the Dutch 451, which was born from the all-attacking and all-defending, is unique, alleviating people's worries, the second goal of the Dutch team in this game, is Robben after a long run, cut inside the penalty area with the ball, and pass to Van Persie to score.

Although the French team moved according to the time and tried to make Ribery take on more attacking organization, he lacked tacit understanding with Malouda and Govu on the left and right wings, especially Malouda, who had just turned 28, made too many mistakes and could hardly play the role of Robben.

It can be said that this game is not a final, but it is like a final.

The 90 minutes of the Dutch team and the French team, can be called the most classic battle in the history of the European Cup, and the first match against Italy, the Dutch team as always ushered in a fantastic start to the next city, the backward French team launched a wave of offensive frenzy, but in the end did not get rid of the fate of losing, Lianke Italy and France, two games as high as seven goals record, in the past in the international competition of the Dutch team, 2008 European Cup, a wash of the haze of history, finally released the most dazzling light.

Van Basten used his Italian tactical style to make a huge turnaround for the Orange, despite facing accusations from his old-timer Cruyff.

But Van Basten still stubbornly abandoned the flashy coat of Dutch football and firmly implemented the practical style of football.

Some of the veterans left the national team and were replaced by a large number of young players, with Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie and Van der Vaart starting to take on important roles in the national team.

The young people also lived up to the trust of the young coach Basten and rewarded him with the best performance on the pitch.

Speaking after the game, Van Basten said: "These young people will be responsible for the resurgence of Dutch football in the next decade. ”

The Dutch are full of beauty, and after two games in the European Cup, one draw and one loss, the most champion-looking French team is now at the bottom of the group, scoring only one goal in two games, and the French team's strikers are weak to break through the opponent's city.

Perhaps the entire blame should not be placed on the strikers, as they don't have a Zidane behind them. The reason why the French team in the Zidane era is often undefeated is that compared with other players, Zizou's special thing is that his super ability to read the game on the field and have a good overall view of the situation make him able to become the offensive core and organizer on the field, tidy up the offensive scene of the whole team in an orderly manner, and often give the opponent the most fatal blow at the most critical time, which is regrettable and what the current French team lacks the most.

After Zinedine Zidane's retirement, French football seemed to have lost its soul, they didn't even know how to fight on the pitch, and despite having a super striker like Thierry Henry, the flashy attack of the past disappeared from the Gallic roosters.

Now, the bottom team of the group will face Italy in the final game of the group, and if they want to qualify from the group, they must not only win the opponent, but also pin their hopes on the Netherlands, who have already qualified from the group, and can beat the Romanian team, who are not weak. The French team, which won the World Series in the past and almost won the hand, now has to wait helplessly for the verdict of fate.

Such a result, both for Italy and France, is a bit cruel, leaving fate in the hands of others, perhaps these two giants will really begin to decline, and will be replaced by those emerging forces mainly young people.

This is the general trend, and no one can reverse it!

After two rounds of fierce battles in the "Group of Death", people were surprised to find that Italy, the winner of the 2006 World Cup, and France, the champion of the 1998 World Cup, both scored only one point, tied for the bottom of the group.

If the Dutch team is interested in "releasing Romania" in the third game, then Italy and France will be eliminated together, and the two World Cup winners will be eliminated in the group stage of the European Championship, which will be a great spectacle of this European Cup.

Historically, teams that have just achieved good results in the World Cup have struggled to perform well in the European Championships. Germany, who won the World Cup twice in 1974 and 1990, had hoped to go on to win the European Championships, but in 1976 and 1992, they were beaten by Czechoslovakia and Denmark.

Italy, who won the World Cup in 1982, fell out in the 1984 European Championship and even in qualifying, and England won the World Cup in 1966, but in the 1968 European Championship, they were defeated by Yugoslavia and missed the title dream.

In 1998, France won the World Cup, and in 2000, France were lucky enough to equalize at the last minute in the final, beating Italy through the Golden Goal to win the title, and this lucky double was the only time the European Championship was broken since its inception in 1960.

Perhaps, people have to admit that the World Cup is the World Cup, and the European Cup is the European Cup!

The Group of Death left the final death suspense until the final round, while Group D, which hosts defending champions Greece, has already produced its first surprise but plausible death.

Before the start of the European Cup, the reporter interviewed the coach of the Greek team, Rehhagel, and asked him which position of the Greek team he was most assured of, and Rehhagel replied without hesitation: "Goalkeeper!" ”

Indeed, as the oldest player in the team, goalkeeper Nikopolidis, who is almost 38 years old, is the anchor of the Greek team.

But it was the man who was most reassured by the head coach who made a fatal mistake in the second round of Group D against Russia, and it was Nicopolidis's low-level mistake that directly led to the early exit of the defending champion Greece.

In 04, the Greek team won the championship miraculously, and in the post-match summary meeting, Rehhagel gave key praise to the 33-year-old goalkeeper Nikopolidis.

In 04, the Greek team won the championship, relying on an unbreakable defense, and the Greek team eliminated the opponent with zero goals in the three knockout games and finally won the championship.

In the three knockout games, Nicopolidis made an average of four successful saves per game, and his athletic skills were not lost to any young goalkeeper, and his rich game experience made him play steadily, making rare saves and rarely making fatal mistakes.

Four years later, Nikopolidis, who is nearly 38 years old, is still the main goalkeeper of the Greek team.

On the one hand, this shows the manager's trust in him and his affirmation of his ability, and on the other hand, it also shows that the young generation in Greece is growing slowly and has been embarrassed.

This embarrassment was soon confirmed in the match, when Nicopolidis's fatal mistake at a crucial moment in the do-or-die match against the Russian team buried the defending champions' hopes of working hard.

In the thirty-third minute of the game, the Russian team passed diagonally to the back of the penalty area on the left side, the ball was kicked very slowly, and the judgment time was very long, and the Greek defenders at that time had also been in place with the defense, basically standing in front of Shemark, for some reason, when the threat was not big, and there were teammates in place, Nikopolidis suddenly chose to attack to block the opponent, Semak looked back and saw Nikopolidis attacking, the door was open, and he chose to pass the ball to the goal for the first time. Nikopolidis, who misjudged the attack, completely lost control of the ball and could only watch as Zirianov sent the ball into the empty net.

The Greek players looked very frustrated after conceding the goal, and although no one complained about Nicopolis's low-level mistake, it was clear from everyone's faces that they were disappointed in their big brother.

After conceding a goal, the Greek team began to enter chaos, the offensive and defensive ends were disjointed, the midfield did not protect the defensive line adequately, and if it was not for the Russian team to waste the opportunity, the Greek team conceded far more than one goal.

Looking back at the two matches that have been played, Nicopolidis' reflexes and form are far from being compared to four years ago, and it can only be said that he is really old.

It has always been a truth that many teams believe in, whether it is a strong team or a weak team, each team will have one or two older players to press the lineup, and their experience will be of great help to the team.

However, judging from this cup competition, the role of veterans in aging teams, including France, Italy, and Greece, is becoming more and more limited.

Is it to play a role as a surprise soldier at a critical moment?

Or as the main force to fight, the use of veterans has become a new topic for the construction of various teams.

Defending champions Greece exited early, becoming the third defending European Championship champions to be eliminated in the group stage after Denmark in 1996 and Germany in 2000.

Greece have one game to play and if they fail to pick up a point against Spain in their final game, they will be the worst defending champions in history.

In addition, after losing to Russia, Greece became the only team not to score in this tournament, and Greece has always been a defensive-oriented team supplemented by counter-attacks and set-piece sneak attacks, having been defending their title four years ago with several 1-0s.

Coach Rehhagel also expressed his frustration at the team's lack of attacking power: "Unfortunately, we didn't take advantage of the chances we created, but I've always said that Greece is not a team that is good at scoring, I was hoping for something and unfortunately it didn't happen. ”

For this game, Otto the Great believes that it was the defense that Greece is proud of has gone wrong, which gave the Russians an opportunity: "Most of the responsibility for the goal scored by the Russian team was on us, which could have been avoided, and I think if we could have put more pressure on the opponent, maybe we could have got a draw, but nevertheless, we should be satisfied, the team is first-class, playing football with speed and stability." ”

Rehhagel's side staged an incredible Greek myth in Portugal four years ago, and the boss believes that such a miracle is unlikely to happen again four years later.

"Back in 2004, a miracle happened, but it's almost a 30-year miracle, and if it happened every week, it wouldn't be called a miracle."

Although it was Russia who relied on mistakes from their opponents to achieve the victory, head coach Guus Hiddink felt it was an opportunity for the team to fight for, and he praised the performance of his players: "Everyone is fighting for a good result, in modern football you have to be very tough and you can't let go of chances and I'm happy because I know the players acted when they were most needed. After the match against Spain, I encouraged them to play well and they didn't disappoint me and they showed that they can play at a high level. ”

With a victory, the Russians stripped Greece of its magical cloak and made the defending champions the second team to be eliminated from this European Championship after the hosts.

The other match in this group will be between Spain and Sweden, which is also considered to be the battle for the top spot in Group D.

Before the game, Swedish star Ibrahimovic said that he would break Spain's goal with both legs during the game.

In this regard, Spain's veteran coach Calagones said: "Ibrahimovic wants to kick our goal? This is good! But first he had to bypass the red cloak on our hands! ”