Bundesliga at the Euros, Day 6
Approaching a week since the start of the Euros, the 2nd round of fixtures got underway today with Groups A and B playing their matches. Not many Bundesliga involvements today but you can read about the games here:
Russia notch up first win
One goal was all it took for Russia to kickstart their European Championship campaign, as a goal on the stroke of half-time from Aleksey Miranchuk was the pivotal one as Russia defeated Finland 1-0 in St. Petersburg. The Atalanta midfielder's exquisite finish into the far top corner past the Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky was the blow for Finland, and they couldn't engineer a comeback. Union Berlin's Joel Pohjanpalo had a couple of good chances for Finland, but he couldn't fashion a goal for the debutants.
⚽️ The man who crowned an intricate move with a fine curling finish...
— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 16, 2021
🇷🇺 Aleksei Miranchuk = Star of the Match👏
🤔 Did you see that coming?@Heineken | #EUROSOTM | #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/K16FqO7hO8
Finland Starting XI: (3-5-2)
Hradecky
Toivio - Arajuuri - O'Shaughnessy
Raitala - Schuller - Lod - Kamara - Uronen
Pukki - Pohjanpalo
Russia Starting XI: (4-3-3)
Safonov
Fernandes - Diveev - Dzhikiya - Kuzyaev
Zobnin - Barinov - Ozdoev
Miranchuk - Dzyuba - Golovin
Wales one step away from qualification
No Bundesliga players involved in this game but a big win for Wales in their quest to repeat their heroics of 2016. Goals from Aaron Ramsey and Connor Roberts did the job for Wales as they beat Turkey 2-0 in front of a largely Turkish-supporting stadium in Baku. Turkey were poor again and face an uphill task in being one of the "best losers" as they sit on 0 points and face a Switzerland side sat on 1 point following 2 games in Baku. Wales sit on 4 points and just need to avoid defeat against Italy in Rome to qualify automatically.
Scenes in Baku! 🎉
— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 16, 2021
Well played, @Cymru 👏👏👏#EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/cJFxdHIKBG
Turkey Starting XI: (4-1-4-1)
Cakir
Celik - Ayhan - Soyuncu - Meras
Yokuslu
Karaman - Calhanoglu - Tufan - Under
Yilmaz
Wales Starting XI: (4-2-3-1)
Ward
Roberts - Mepham - Rodon - Davies
Morrell - Allen
Bale - Ramsey - James
Moore
First team through to the last 16 confirmed
It was the Manuel Locatelli show at the Stadio Olimpico, as he bagged a brace in Italy's 3-0 win over Switzerland. Borussia Mönchengladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer had a busy evening and was not able to keep the ball out of the net from Locatelli and Lazio forward Ciro Immobile. Switzerland started with Gladbach striker Breel Embolo leading the line but he had a very quiet game and instead it was the defence containing another Gladbach player in Nico Elvedi and Borussia Dortmund centre-back Manuel Akanji who had to deal with the brunt of the action.
🇮🇹 Italy become the first team to reach the Round of 16. Bravo, @azzurri 👏👏👏#EURO2020 | #ITA
— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 16, 2021
Italy Starting XI: (4-3-3)
Donnarumma
Di Lorenzo - Bonucci - Chiellini - Spinazzola
Barella - Jorginho - Locatelli
Berardi - Immobile - Insigne
Switzerland Starting XI: (3-4-1-2)
Sommer
Elvedi - Schär - Akanji
Mbabu - Freuler - Xhaka - Rodriguez
Shaqiri
Seferovic - Embolo