After all the thrills and spills, the Euro 2020 final awaits us this Sunday.
England will cross swords with Italy at Wembley as the last men standing following a tournament full of drama, entertainment and hard knocks.
I guess the only thing to do now is recap and name my dream team.
Goalkeeper – Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy)
It’s hard to believe this guy is just 22 years old – which is a baby in goalkeeping terms.
He kept his team in the game when Spain threatened to end their 33-match unbeaten run in the semifinals.
Honourable mention must to go to England’s Jordan Pickford, who conceded just one all tournament.
Leftback – Leonardo Spinazzola (Italy)
It will be bittersweet for Spinazzola if Italy lift the Henri Delaunay Trophy after being ruled out of the tournament by an Achilles tendon tear in the quarterfinal against Belgium.
The Roma ace combined well with Lorenzo Insigne to be a constant threat for the Azzurri.
He was missed against Spain, when they were over-run by Cesar Azpilicueta and Ferran Torres. Makes the XI ahead of Denmark’s Joakim Maehle and England’s Luke Shaw.
Rightback – Cesar Azpilicueta (Spain)
Scored his first goal for his country in a wild 5-3 last-16 win over Croatia.
In a young team, his experience was key to giving Luis Enrique’s rookies the confidence.
He edges ahead of England’s Kyle Walker for being more of a threat going forward, with the latter often used as the last man back when the Three Lions attacked.
Left centreback – Giorgio Chiellini (Italy)
The 36-year-old Tower of Pisa didn’t look like being toppled at this tournament with some commanding and heroic defending.
His ability to sniff and snuff out danger came to the fore again when Spain played with a false nine in the semi after he kept Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku in his pocket in quarterfinal.
Harry Maguire and Aymeric Laporte had massive tournaments, maar daar issie vir Chiellini nie.
Right centreback – Andreas Christiansen (Denmark)
Christiansen took a long time to break into Chelsea’s first team and you can see why they kept faith with him.
He’s assured in playing the ball out from the back when the Danes want to attack and he has pace (clocked at 33.3km/h) to cover and make last-ditch tackles when they lose the ball.
Pulled a muscle with an acrobatic block in the semifinal against England and was substituted before the Three Lions’ Raheem Sterling kooped the tournament’s cheapest penalty.
Defensive midfield – Jorginho (Italy)
Jorginho played the regista (deep-lying playmaker) role for Italy, made famous by Andrea Pirlo.
He doesn’t have the silky looks or range of passing as his his predecessor, but he does make Italy’s mean machine tick.
Rarely gives the ball away and finds the forward movement of his runners.
Just edges out Spain veteran Sergio Busquets.
Centre midfield – Paul Pogba (France)
This was the toughest pick of the lot. No player in this position really turned the tide and took the game by the scruff of the neck for me.
I could easily have gone for Spain’s Pedri here, as the youngster ran the show for La Furia Roja as they pushed Italy all the way in the semifinal with an immaculate display.
Then there was Georginio Wijnaldum, Kevin de Bruyne and Luka Modric.
But Pogba was France’s standout player at the tournament and scored the goal of the tournament with a curler into the top corner v Switzerland.
Left wing – Raheem Sterling (England)
Ja, he dived in for the decisive penalty in the semifinal against Denmark.
But for an England team that can’t always get their attacking talent firing on all cylinders, Sterling kept opposition defences on their toes whenever he got the ball.
He may not be consistent and goes down like a Jenga stack, but his three goals and combinations with Luke Shaw and supersub Jack Grealish dragged England all the way to the final.
Attacking midfield – Mikkel Damsgaard (Denmark)
I couldn’t be more impressed with this laaitie. The 21-year-old was thrusted into the side to take Christian Eriksen’s place, he made a dream impact with a goal to send the Danes into the knockouts as one of the best third-placed teams.
And he didn’t stop there, as he took on the role of Denmark’s chief attacking threat plus scoring the only direct freekick goal of the competition with a pearler against England in the semi, having played just twice at senior international level before the Euros kicked off.
Sampdoria will have a tough time hanging on to this talent.
Right wing – Dani Olmo (Spain)
Another position at the tournament that really wasn’t consistently set alight.
There was no inverted winger cutting in on his left foot with menace.
Instead, you had manne making runs at the back post or whipping in crosses.
And here Dani Olmo was my pick for the tournament.
He pinned opposition defences back with his runs and also picked up the ball in dangerous positions around the box.
Striker – Harry Kane
Overcame a slow start to score in each of England’s knockout games – showing he has the ballas to do it when the chips are down.
Four goals puts him one behind leading scorers Cristiano Ronaldo and Patrick Schick.
Kane is England’s focus in attack, but he can also drop deep and find his runners, like he did for Tottenham to set up 14 Premier League goals.
He did it again to release Bukayo Saka for the opener in the semi and that could be a decisive factor against Italy in the final.