With the final of UEFA EURO 2012 offering an intriguing rematch of the opening Group C meeting between Spain and Italy, UEFA.com rounds up all the key statistics from UEFA European Championship showpieces, including some worrying omens for the holders, the likelihood of extra time and the significance of being in front at the break.
0: Number of sides to have retained the Henri Delaunay Cup. The Soviet Union (1960, 1964) and West Germany (1972, 1976) returned to the final as holders only to lose.
0: No player has appeared in two victorious finals – Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández, Cesc Fàbregas, David Silva and Fernando Torres all started Spain's 2008 triumph, with Xabi Alonso and Santi Cazorla coming on as substitutes. Rainer Bonhof twice picked up a winners' medal with West Germany (1972, 1980) but did not play in either tournament.
13: Thirteen players have appeared in two finals: Valentin Ivanov, Viktor Ponedelnik, Lev Yashin (Soviet Union, 1960 winners, 1964 runners-up); Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeness, Sepp Maier, Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, Herbert Wimmer (West Germany, 1972 winners, 1976 runners-up), Bernard Dietz (West Germany, 1976 runners-up, 1980 winners), Thomas Hässler, Thomas Helmer, Jürgen Klinsmann and Matthias Sammer (Germany, 1992 runners-up, 1996 winners).
3: Three teams have held the UEFA European Championship and FIFA World Cup at the same time. West Germany won the European title in 1972 and added the world crown two years later, while France claimed the 1998 World Cup and UEFA EURO 2000 and Spain triumphed at UEFA EURO 2008 and the 2010 World Cup. No team has won three major tournaments in a row; West Germany were within a shoot-out of achieving the feat before their 1976 loss to Czechoslovakia.
15: A total of 15 players appeared in both those finals: for West Germany, Sepp Maier, Franz Beckenbauer, Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, Paul Breitner, Uli Hoeness and Gerd Müller, while Fabien Barthez, Marcel Desailly, Bixente Lizarazu, Lilian Thuram, Didier Deschamps, Youri Djorkaeff, Patrick Vieira, Zinédine Zidane and Christophe Dugarry also achieved the feat for France.
9: Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Carles Puyol, Joan Capdevila, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández, Cesc Fàbregas, Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres played in Spain's 2008 EURO final win and the 2010 World Cup success.
27: Italy's Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Pirlo and substitute Daniele De Rossi could join a select group to have appeared in World Cup and UEFA European Championship final victories. In addition to the 24 players mentioned above, Dino Zoff (Italy 1968, 1982) and Germany pair Thomas Hässler and Jürgen Klinsmann (1990, 1996) also featured in both final triumphs.
5: Finals to have gone to extra time:
1960: USSR 2-1 Yugoslavia
1968: Italy 1-1 Yugoslavia (replay 2-0)
1976: Czechoslovakia 2-2 West Germany (5-3 pens)
1996: Czech Republic 1-2 Germany (golden goal)
2000: France 2-1 Italy (golden goal)
1: That 1976 game between Czechoslovakia and West Germany was the first penalty shoot-out in UEFA European Championship finals history and remains the only one in a final. Antonín Panenka settled the contest, his memorable chip giving the Czechoslovakians a 5-3 victory.
1: A one-goal margin of victory is the most common outcome in the final, seven teams having won by a single goal since the tournament started in 1960, most recently Spain in 2008. That 1-0 win was the second in succession by that scoreline in the EURO showpiece following Greece's 2004 triumph against Portugal – previous teams to prevail by one goal had all triumphed 2-1.
2-0: Four teams have won 2-0 in a EURO final – Denmark (1992), the Netherlands (1988), France (1984) and Italy (1968 replay).
3-0: West Germany's 3-0 win against the Soviet Union in 1972 remains the largest margin of victory in a EURO final.
3: Teams have come from behind to win a final only three times, most recently France against Italy in 2000. Germany also achieved the feat against the Czech Republic in 1996, as did the USSR in the first final against Yugoslavia in 1960. Eight years later, Italy came from a goal down to earn a 1-1 draw against Yugoslavia and won the subsequent replay 2-0.
8: Of the eight teams who have held a half-time lead in the UEFA European Championship final, all bar two have gone on to win. Spain (2008), Denmark (1992), Netherlands (1988), West Germany (1980), Czechoslovakia (1976) and West Germany (1972) all ultimately lifted the trophy, but in the first final in 1960, Yugoslavia's 1-0 lead at the interval was turned into a 2-1 defeat against the Soviet Union, while eight years later Italy cancelled out Yugoslavia's 1-0 half-time advantage lead to draw 1-1 and won the replay.
4: This will be the fourth time teams who have already played in a UEFA European Championship meet again in the final, all at eight-year intervals. In 1988 the Netherlands opened with a 1-0 loss to the USSR but recovered to reach the final, where they beat the same opponents 2-0; eight years later Germany overcame the Czech Republic 2-0 in the group stage and 2-1 in the final and in 2004 Greece were 2-1 winners against Portugal on the opening day and defeated the hosts again in the final, 1-0.
36: Of the 36 goals scored in finals, 14 have been scored in the first half and 19 in the second, with the remaining three coming in extra time.
6: Spain's Jesús Pereda scored the fastest goal in a EURO final, breaking the deadlock in the sixth minute of the 1964 showpiece. Galimzian Khusainov levelled two minutes later, the second fastest goal in a final.
2: This is the first UEFA European Championship final where both goalkeepers – Buffon and Casillas – have been captains. In the 1934 World Cup final, Gianpiero Combi (Italy) and František Plánička (Czechoslovakia) skippered their teams.
5: Spain's Chelsea FC pair Fernando Torres and Juan Mata could join a small group of players to have appeared in European Cup and UEFA European Championship final victories in the same year. Luis Suárez achieved the feat with FC Internazionale Milano and Spain in 1964, while in 1988 PSV Eindhoven quartet Hans van Breukelen, Ronald Koeman, Barry van Aerle and Gerald Vanenburg were all in the succcessful Netherlands side.
Wim Kieft was a Champion Clubs' Cup finalist with PSV in 1988 and an unused substitute in the Netherlands' European triumph, while Nicolas Anelka was similarly thwarted with France in 2000 after appearing in Real Madrid CF's UEFA Champions League final. Anelka's Madrid team-mate Christian Karembeu holds the unique position of being an unused substitute in European Cup and UEFA European Championship final triumphs in the same year.
10: In contrast, ten players have played in European Cup final victories and EURO final defeats in the same year: Sepp Maier, Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, Franz Beckenbauer and Uli Hoeness (1976, FC Bayern München and West Germany) and Ricardo Carvalho, Nuno Valente, Costinha, Maniche, Deco and Paulo Ferreira (2004, FC Porto and Portugal).
1: Should Spain triumph in Kyiv, Vicente Del Bosque would become only the second coach to lift UEFA European Championship and World Cup; Helmut Schön guided West Germany to European glory in 1972 and World Cup success two years later. His team also finished runners-up in the 1966 World Cup and 1976 European Championship.
No comments:
Post a Comment