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The wait is finally over and almost three weeks after Manchester United lifted the FA Cup at Wembley, Euro 2024 will kick off tonight when Scotland take on hosts Germany.
The Red Devils have eight players involved in the tournament and they will all be dreaming of hoisting up the trophy on the 14th July at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
Portugal
Manchester United’s captain and fans’ player of the year, Bruno Fernandes and player’s player of the season, Diogo Dalot will hope to cap an excellent season at club level by delivering the Euros for their nation.
The Portuguese won the tournament in 2016 and will be hoping for a repeat eight years later. Fernandes once again was the most creative player in the Premier League, so he will certainly be backing himself to be one of the most threatening in the tournament.
Dalot will aim to consolidate a starting role in the Portuguese backline just like he emphatically did this season for United.
There is more interest for United fans in the Portugal side, as the club has also been heavily linked with Joao Neves . The Red Devils will hope that the 19 year old sensation can have a strong tournament to prove that he is capable of playing at the highest level in spite of his tender years.
Portugal must wait until Tuesday to get in the action, when they will kick off their campaign against the Czech Republic.
England
The English are widely considered the favourites to win the whole tournament and this is mainly down to their embarrassment of riches in attack.
United’s interest is a little further back as midfielder Kobbie Mainoo makes his international tournament debut and will be hoping to consolidate a starting spot in the midfield and enhance his growing reputation as one of the most exciting young talents in the world.
Luke Shaw is also likely to be fit after missing the majority of the season through injury and will be hoping he can wrestle his way back into Gareth Southgate’s plans and play a key role in taking England far in the tournament, proving his fitness along the way.
Harry Maguire was selected in the provisional squad but was cut as he was deemed unable to play a significant enough part in the tournament due to injury.
The English will open their campaign against Serbia on Sunday.
Denmark
The Danes also have two United representatives in the form of Ramus Hojlund and Christian Erisken. Both players have experienced contrasting seasons where the former has arguably been overplayed and the latter would certainly argue he has been underutilised.
Both will be aiming to prove their worth on the international stage for very different reasons.
Hojlund will be aiming to build on a good start to his United career and score some goals to make the rest of Europe take notice of his talent once more after his fine haul of five goals in six Champions League goals this season.
There will be bittersweet emotion for Eriksen, who collapsed on the pitch in the previous Euros competition and almost lost his life. His involvement in the tournament this time around shows the amazing work he has done to get back to this level.
Furthermore, he will be aiming to show the club and/or potential suitors that he still has the creative genius to change games.
The Scandinavians will take on Slovenia on Sunday and will fascinatingly be in England’s group.
Scotland
Scott McTominay will be in action on opening night as the Scots aim to upset the Germans on home soil. The United academy prospect answered his critics after a poor 2022/23 season where he was almost sold in the summer but he rallied back to score 10 goals in all competitions.
The Scot also had a wonderful qualification campaign, where he scored two goals at Hampden Park in a famous victory over Spain. He was his nation’s top scorer in the qualifiers.
The 27 year old will be one of the most important players for his nation and if the Scottish are to make it out of a tough looking group consisting of Germany, Hungary and Switzerland, he will need to be on fine form.
Turkey
United’s final representative is Altay Bayindir who only played one game for his new club all season after signing in the summer.
He did do a solid job between the sticks, keeping a clean sheet against Italy in a recent friendly and will be aiming to take back the number one spot for the Turks.
With the player said to be unhappy at the lack of game time he has got at United, he may be hoping to put himself in the shop window with some top notch displays for his country.
The Turks open their tournament against Georgia on Tuesday.
Hungary
United have no representatives from this nation but the Old Trafford faithful will be keeping an eye on them as they have been linked heavily to Bournemouth left back Milos Kerkez.
The Hungarian is reportedly open to joining United in the summer and will be hoping to further cement his reputation as a top quality talent on the European stage and get his move to one of Europe’s biggest clubs.
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