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Introduction
Euro 2024 will be a gathering of some of the greatest footballers on the planet, with this competition having the potential to shape the Ballon d’Or race.
It is a tournament in which legends will be made, with each nation having their own hero they expect to excel.
But who are the players everyone will be watching in Germany?
Before the competition begins we’ve showcased the best Euro 2024 free bets & offers where you can grab a bunch of free bets and put our expert’s Euro 2024 betting tips & bet builder predictions to work.
🎯 Shots on Target
Kylian Mbappe has already won the World Cup with France, in 2018, and grabbed a hat-trick in the final of the same competition as Les Bleus fell just short against Argentina 18 months ago.
His relationship with the European Championship is not as strong. In his only previous outing in the tournament, he missed the penalty that saw France eliminated by Switzerland two years ago. He will be out to make amends.
Mbappe has scored over 25 Ligue 1 goals for the fourth season in succession and will be the centrepiece of a French team that is once again expected to go deep in the competition. With PSG, he has had 2.13 shots on target per 90 in Ligue 1 this season while with France he had 2.19 in qualifying.
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo should be expected to chalk up some significant numbers in terms of shots on target. Not only will he be playing in a competitive side, but he will also demand to be at the very centre of it, even at 39 years old.
He was taking 2.38 shots on target per 90 in qualifying, during which he scored ten goals in just eight appearances.
The Al-Nassr striker will surely find life more difficult in the finals, yet he is still scoring at a remarkable lick in the Saudi Pro League (32 goals in 27 appearances), and with five Ballon d’Ors behind him, he remains a player who commands immense respect.
One man did even better: Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku. The Chelsea striker, who is on loan at Roma, continues to be a potent threat in the international game, scoring 18 goals in qualifying and managing 2.73 shots on target per 90.
While his future at club level remains uncertain, a strong European Championship could help him earn one final big move, so there is an element of personal motivation to consider.
Others to watch out for who had more than 2 shots on target per 90 are Croatia’s Andrej Kramaric (2.33), Michael Gregoritsch of Austria (2.26), and Zeki Amdouni of Switzerland (2.21).
📊 Expected Goals (xG)
The trio of Mbappe, Ronaldo, and Romelu Lukaku should all feature heavily when it comes to expected goals. All three are the centrepieces of the attack for three very strong nations, which means they should naturally chalk up big numbers here. Indeed, Portugal and France were the most prolific teams in terms of scoring in qualifying while Belgium were fourth.
Spain squeezed in third but relied more on team play than any specific individual for their goals. No player had more than four in qualifying. La Roja are not one to watch in terms of shots on target or expected goals from any individual.
Of course, Harry Kane has been conspicuously absent from this debate to this point. The Bayern Munich striker does not actually get a huge volume of shots on target but what he does do well is make the most of them. Indeed, he has the highest xG in Europe’s big five leagues this season at 30.6.
He will be many people’s favourites to win the Golden Boot after thriving in Germany with Bayern Munich. He is scoring at a rate of more than one goal per 90 minutes for the Bundesliga giants and musters 1.69 shots on target in that timeframe for his club.
The England captain had 1.64 shots on target per 90 in qualifying, which hints towards the more conservative approach of international boss Gareth Southgate even against weaker opponents.
With eight goals in qualifying – 1.19 per 90 he played – he is a threat to be taken seriously, however. And he should chalk up a sizeable xG figure.
As an outside bet, consider Ukraine’s Artem Dovbyk. The Girona striker accumulated 21.83 xG in La Liga this season, placing him seventh among all players in Europe’s major leagues.
He did only score twice in qualifying but he is an expert at getting himself into dangerous positions if given the right service. Ukraine’s draw is not too intimidating – Romania, Slovakia, and Belgium are their group stage opponents – so he is one to watch.
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🤝 Assists
Netherlands wing back Denzel Dumfries led qualifying when it came to assists per 90 on 0.89, with attacking from wide areas very much what the Inter Milan player is renowned for.
He was one of four standout players who boasted more than 0.8 assists per 90 when it came to delivering assists in the qualifying rounds and looks like a good pick for Euro 2024 player assists.
Alongside him were Belgium’s Jeremy Doku (0.88) and Portugal’s Bruno Fernandes (0.86), who will both benefit from having very competent centre-forwards in the form of Lukaku and Ronaldo to supply in the finals.
Meanwhile, the hosts boast a very dangerous player in the form of Florian Wirtz. The Leverkusen attacker has ten Bundesliga assists this season and is likely to be a prime threat in the finals on home turf. Look out, too, for Leroy Sane, who has 11 Bundesliga assists with Bayern Munich this term, although he is unlikely to be as central in the plans of Julian Nagelsmann.
🩹 Fouls Drawn
When it comes to players capable of winning free kicks, no one is stronger among the qualifiers than Hungary’s Dominik Szoboszlai. The Liverpool player won 25 fouls in qualifying, which works out to a little over 3 per 90 minutes.
Expect Szoboszlai to be at the heart of Hungary’s play in the finals, meaning that the 23-year-old is liable to take a share of bumps and bruises with his dynamic style of midfield play.
Slovakia’s Ondrej Duda is another to keep an eye on. The Hellas Verona attacker is typically involved in physical battles when he plays and this is reflected by the fact that he won 3.19 fouls per 90, a little more than the 3.04 of team-mate Tomas Suslov.
🛑 Fouls Committed
Duda may rank fifth among players to win fouls in qualifying, but he was fourth when it came to giving them away. The Serie A-based forward committed 2.5 per 90.
Indeed, Slovakia’s forwards are all combative. Robert Bozenik (2.34) and Suslov (2.14) both had significant foul counts over a decent sample size.
Mykhailo Mudryk is another to monitor in this market. A bit-part player at Chelsea, he plays the vast majority of minutes for Ukraine and picks up a similarly large number of fouls.
The winger sits at 2.25 fouls committed per 90 in qualifying and is a busy but sometimes clumsy player out-of-possession. It would be surprising if he were not around this figure in Ukraine’s games.
Among the leading nations, meanwhile, Joao Palhinha of Portugal is the likeliest criminal. The Fulham midfielder gave away 2.92 fouls per 90 in qualifying, which should make him a leading candidate for bet builders when he is involved.
🧤 Golden Glove
Who will be the best goalkeeper at Euro 2024? There are numerous candidates to make the Team of the Tournament, including Italy’s Gianluigi Donnarumma, who claimed the prize in 2021.
The PSG shot-stopper does not find himself in the best of form while the Azzurri’s defence has not been as assured as head coach Luciano Spalletti would like. The Italians stereotypically tighten up once they reach the finals of competitions, but it remains to be seen if they are capable of doing so again.
Portugal’s Diogo Costa led the way in qualifying by keeping clean sheets in 85.7% of his matches but the competition will step up a notch here with far more formidable opponents set to test the defences of Europe’s best teams. As such, the save percentage is worth examining.
Costa finished second in this regard on 86.7% but France’s Mike Maignan was the runaway leader on 92.9%. Behind what is expected to be a resolute defence and a strong team as a whole, the AC Milan keeper is expected to have a strong competition.
Also boasting strong numbers are Romania’s Horatju Moldovan (86.2%) and Scotland’s Angus Gunn (85.7%), though both are likely to have their work cut out as the standard of competition increases.
* All odds displayed correctly at the time of publishing *
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