There’s one Matchday left in the group stage of EURO 2020. As with the final round of most tournament group stages, a strange discord exists between top teams, already qualified, who will rotate heavily, and the rest of the teams fighting tooth and nail for a place in the last 16.
Chips
With the inevitable rotation from the top teams and a huge amount of data from the first two rounds, Matchday 3 is a perfect time to play one of your chips to get ahead of the crowd.
The chip you use depends heavily on the strategy you’ve adopted so far. If you used either Limitless or Wildcard for Matchday 2, it makes sense to use the second chip for Matchday 3.
However, if you’re yet to use a chip, Limitless seems the best way to go. With unlimited transfers between the group and knockout stages, Limitless is the perfect chip to use for one week. You can then save your Wildcard for the quarter-finals.
Captaincy and Transfers
Sunday, June 20
The first game of Matchday 3 sees two already-qualified sides face-off in Group A, as Italy play Wales. Roberto Mancini has already hinted that the Azzurri will likely rotate heavily for this game, so expect to see starts for Federico Chiesa (€7.0m) and Andrea Belotti (€8.0m).
Belotti is a strong captaincy option for the game, with three goals and an assists in his last five appearances for Italy (three starts and two sub apps). Chiesa’s stats ahead of the Wales match are underwhelming at best, but he’s been in great form for Juventus this season and is still a decent option. Both Belotti and Italy’s recent record show that he’s the top captaincy pick for the day.
Italy have now gone 10 games without conceding. Despite Wales’ lightning performance against a poor Turkey side, Italy’s defence may well still be too strong to make their players good options. Rafael Toloi (€4.5m) and Emerson (€5.5m) both look set to start, with the former picking up an assist off the bench against Switzerland. Emerson may well replace Leonardo Spinazzola (€5.5m) in Italy’s very attacking left-back position, making him a great differential captaincy option for the first day.
The other opening game of Matchday 3 sees Switzerland face Turkey. Both sides have been disappointing so far in the competition, with Turkey failing to live up to their label as ‘dark horses’ having not yet scored at EURO 2020. However, Switzerland’s performance against a spirited Wales side gives them reason to believe they can at least qualify as one of the best Third Placed teams. As a result, both Breel Embolo (€8.0m) and Xherdan Shaqiri (€7.0m) are great options for the Swiss side, with Shaqiri dominating set pieces and Embolo the star man for Switzerland so far.
Monday, June 21
There are four games on Monday, with plenty left to play for for most of the teams. In Group B, already-qualified Belgium play a Finland side with everything left to play for. As they did in the final group game of the 2018 World Cup, Belgium will likely rotate heavily and save their stars for the knockout stages.
This is likely to be bad news for Romelu Lukaku (€11.1m) and Kevin De Bruyne (€10.5m), who recently showed that he’s well up to match-fitness after his eye injury sustained in the UEFA Champions League Final. As a result, Jeremy Doku (€7.0m) and Leandro Trossard (€6.5m) may well start either side of Michy Batshuayi (€6.5m).
However, as he proved in Belgium’s first game of the tournament, Thomas Meunier (€5.6m) is the best pick from this Belgium side. He’s nailed in the team after the injury to Timothy Castagne and has incredible attacking threat in a strong defensive side. Meunier is a great differential captaincy option for the second day. Although Finland will fight for a place in the last 16, even Belgium’s second side should have too much strength for a side who haven’t really showed anything impressive going forward so far, even against a shell-shocked Denmark and a Russian side who threw everything at the goal for 90 minutes.
Denmark against Russia is a game with the last 16 definitely on the line. Denmark were impressive against Belgium and look to have regained their composure after the horrifying events of their first game. Yussuf Poulsen (€8.0m) scored against Belgium and looks to be one of Denmark’s main attacking outlets. Mikkel Damsgaard (€6.0m) also secured a start against Belgium and could be a great differential choice. At the back, Joakhim Maehle (€4.5m) was unlucky not to score against Belgium and could have a field day against a poor Russian defence.
In Group C, Ukraine face Austria and the Netherlands face North Macedonia. Ukraine impressed against North Macedonia and have looked great going forward in both their games so far. In contrast, Austria’s defence has looked seriously poor and they’ve offered very little going forward, especially against the Netherlands. Andriy Yarmolenko (€8.5m) was brilliant against North Macedonia, picking up a goal and an assist and would’ve taken the penalty if he’d still been on the pitch. In front of Yarmolenko, Roman Yaremchuk (€7.1m) has scored in both games so far and is another strong option in a game that Ukraine should win comfortably.
The Netherlands against North Macedonia is a great opportunity for rotation but I think they will still do well against a side who’ve shown naivety and defensive fragility in both their EURO 2020 games so far. Donyell Malen (€6.0m) picked up an assist off the bench against Austria and should start up front, fresh from a great season for PSV Eindhoven. The former Arsenal man is well-placed to do very well at a budget price, potentially being a great captaincy option.
At left wing-back, Owen Wijndal (€4.5m) should finally live up to his pre-tournament hype and start. As Denzel Dumfries (€5.5m) has shown, the Netherlands wing-backs carry incredible threat so Wijndal is a great budget option.
Tuesday, June 22
There are only two games on Tuesday and there aren’t a huge amount of great Fantasy options from either. Croatia face Scotland, with both teams currently winless after poor first games. Croatia’s strongest option is Ivan Perisic (€8.5m), with the Inter Milan winger a key attacking piece for Zlatko Dalic’s men. If Scotland spring a surprise here, Andrew Robertson (€5.5m) will be at the heart of it with contributions at both ends of the field.
Meanwhile, England’s largely uninspiring showing against Scotland on Friday night makes it hard to predict how they will fare against the Czech Republic. Gareth Southgate knows there needs to be an improvement going forward but with the array of attacking talent available, we could see changes.
Wednesday, June 23
There are four massive games on Wednesday, but how they’ll play out is hard to predict having not seen the results of their second games yet. From Group E, Spain will still be favourites against Slovakia. Ferran Torres (€8.0m) and Dani Olmo (€7.0m) both looked threatening against Sweden, despite their failure to break down the low block. Spain’s defence is their real asset, with Jordi Alba (€6.5m) an incredibly strong pick at both ends. Unai Simon (€5.0m) in goal continues to be a strong pick for his price.
Sweden’s game against Poland doesn’t look set to be filled with goals. Alexander Isak (€8.0m) and Marcus Berg (€8.5m) will be the key men for a Sweden side who should have enough to beat Paulo Sousa’s Poland. At the back, Ludwig Augustinsson (€5.5m) and Marcus Danielsson (€4.5m) have both got strong attacking threat in a very solid defensive side and should both be good picks, with Danielsson offering slightly better value due to higher goal threat and lower price.
In Group F, the two group favourites, France and Portugal will likely fight for the top of the group. This is an incredibly tough game to call and will likely be best avoided from a Fantasy standpoint. It’s hard to know if both sides will rotate or go all out, and for the prices of their assets there are better match-ups to target.
However, Germany’s game against Hungary is an incredible chance for their wealth of attacking talent to prove themselves. Serge Gnabry (€9.5m) continues to have the best goalscoring record of any active international player and had some good chances against France. He’s clearly the best captaincy option for this day and the best option from this Germany side.
Alongside Gnabry, Thomas Müller (€9.0m) and Robin Gosens (€5.5m) are both great differential choices. Müller has gained a reputation as a big game player and if there is a place in the last 16 on the line in this game, then it’s definitely a massive game. Gosens had some great chances against France and is given a huge amount of attacking freedom by Joachim Löw in his left wing-back role. He may well be the best differential captain from the last day of the group stage.
READ MORE OF OUR EURO 2024 FANTASY CONTENT
Best €4.0m goalkeepers | Best £4.5m+ goalkeepers | Best €4.0m defenders | Best €4.5m+ defenders | Best midfielders | Best forwards | Best captains for each day | Scout Picks Matchday 1
GROUP A: Germany | Scotland | Hungary | Switzerland
GROUP B: Spain | Croatia | Italy | Albania
GROUP C: Slovenia | Denmark | Serbia | England
GROUP D: Poland | Netherlands | Austria | France
GROUP E: Belgium | Slovakia | Romania | Ukraine
GROUP F: Turkey | Georgia | Portugal | Czechia
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3 years, 5 months agoOr any of my 4.5 defenders to Gosens for -4?