Ronaldo and Mbappe IN: Euro 2024 WORST Team of the Tournament

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 13 Jul 2024 20:02 BST
• 7 min read

Euro 2024 has seen some outstanding performances from some of the continent’s very best players.

However, some of its biggest stars were extremely disappointing.

Below, FootballTransfers runs through our Worst Euro 2024 Team of the Tournament, focusing on big-name players who came into the competition with high expectations.

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GK - Andriy Lunin (Ukraine)

Andriy Lunin came into Euro 2024 off the back of the best season of his career.

The Ukraine international has been at Real Madrid since 2018 and he has been forced to wait an extremely long time for a chance in the first-team.

An ACL injury to Thibaut Courtois and Kepa Arrizabalaga's poor form provided exactly that, and Lunin shone as Los Blancos won LaLiga and the Champions League.

However, he endured a torrid Euros debut. Ukraine lost 3-0 to Romania and two of those goals went down as an error by Lunin, with the Real Madrid 'keeper picking the ball out of his net more times (three) than he made saves (two).

He was then dropped for Anatoliy Trubin and didn't play another minute of Ukraine's tournament.

READ MORE: Euro 2024 top scorers - Kane and Watkins fire England to the final

RB - Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Italy)

Italy were extremely poor at Euro 2024 and Giovanni Di Lorenzo epitomised their tournament.

Nico Williams rinsed the Napoli defender for 90 minutes during Spain's 1-0 win over Italy and that game is a key reason why he has been included in this team.

There were no performances of note from the 30-year-old. Furthermore, the defending champions were knocked out in the last-16 after a frankly abysmal showing versus Switzerland - in which Di Lorenzo played the full 90 minutes.

CB - Maximilian Wober (Austria)

Austria were great at Euro 2024, but Maximilian Wober was arguably their most underwhelming performer.

He scored an own goal against France, was dropped for their 3-1 win over Poland, before returning to the starting XI versus the Netherlands and conceding twice.

Wober then only played 26 minutes off the bench during Austria’s last-16 loss to Turkey.

CB - Jan Vertonghen (Belgium)

Jan Vertonghen was on the bench for Belgium’s opening group game against Slovakia and after a shock 1-0 defeat, he was brought into the starting XI for the remaining group stage matches and the last-16 clash with France.

While he was solid versus both Romania and Ukraine, as Belgium kept two clean sheets, he ultimately scored an own goal which knocked them out against France.

Vertonghen’s age showed as he failed to close down Randal Kolo Muani in time, and the PSG forward’s shot smashed into his leg and deflected past Koen Casteels.

LB - Federico Dimarco (Italy)

Federico Dimarco has arguably been the best left-back in world football over the past 18 months - starring for an Inter side that reached the 2023 Champions League final and stormed to a dominant Serie A title in 2024.

However, the Italy international was simply poor at Euro 2024.

Things started in awful fashion with a throw-in straight to Albania's Nedim Bajrami, who rifled the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma after just 23 seconds, the quickest goal in European Championship history, and Dimarco never recovered.

After a poor showing in the group stage, Dimarco was an unused substitute during Italy's 2-0 defeat to Switzerland in the round of 16.

CM - Joey Veerman (Netherlands)

The Netherlands were severely hampered by pre-tournament injuries to Frenkie de Jong and Teun Koopmeiners, with Ronald Koeman forced to turn to alternatives.

While Tijani Reijnders and Jerdy Schouten both impressed, Joey Veerman didn't have the same impact.

The PSV Eindhoven midfielder, who notched 16 Eredivisie assists last season, amassed 207 minutes of action at the tournament, but his most notable moment was being hooked after 35 minutes against Austria.

Veerman completed just nine of his 19 attempted passes (47%), was dribbled past on two occasions and he was soon replaced by Xavi Simons.

CM - Marcelo Brozovic (Croatia)

Marcelo Brozovic was widely criticised for his Euro 2204 form by multiple media outlets in Croatia. The 31-year-old was below par during the tournament and was a prime example of a player losing their touch due to joining the Saudi Pro League.

He was unable to prevent a shock group stage exit as Croatia amassed just two points in three matches.

With Luka Modric unlikely to feature at another major tournament, Croatia need Brozovic, and Mateo Kovacic, to step up, but the ex-Inter man doesn't look as though he is able to perform at the very highest level anymore.

CM - Antoine Griezmann (France)

Antoine Griezmann has been France’s talisman over the past decade, but his powers appear to be waning - at least they did at Euro 2024.

After a fantastic season with Atletico Madrid, Griezmann was expected to help lead France to glory in Germany, but he was an underwhelming performer.

He didn’t score or assist a goal, and France’s best attacking performance - even though they didn’t win the game - was when Griezmann was benched against Poland.

A lot more was expected of the France star, but he failed to deliver.

FW - Harry Kane (England)

Harry Kane could be lifting the Euros trophy as the tournament's Golden Boot winner by the time Sunday night's final has concluded, but there's no getting away from the fact that England's captain has been a disappointment so far in Germany.

He went into Euro 2024 with a slight back problem and he hasn't looked fully fit in a single game thus far. Dropping deep is a part of his game, but it's been ridiculous during this tournament.

Kane is frequently picking up the ball in the centre circle, while his touch map looks similar to that of a central midfielder. Nothing epitomised this more than against the Netherlands when Bukayo Saka delivered a byline cross to absolutely nobody - with Kane miles outside the box.

Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney have both been immense substitute options, and have arguably performed better than Kane, despite their limited involvement.

Plus, Kane's three goals consist of a well-placed tap-in against Denmark, a fairly simple header against Slovakia and a penalty against the Netherlands.

FW - Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

When Portugal played Slovenia in the round of 16, co-commentator Martin Keown described the match as 'The Ronaldo Show', but Portugal will wish they'd left the ageing forward as a bench option.

Ronaldo took every free-kick, even from inconceivable angles, offered virtually nothing in possession and missed every chance he was presented with. He eventually ended the tournament with zero goals from 3.6 xG.

In addition, he missed an extra-time penalty against Slovenia - which was well saved by Jan Oblak - while Ronaldo was the only Portugal player to walk straight off the pitch, rather than console Joao Felix after his missed spot-kick handed victory to France in the quarter-finals.

Ronaldo is playing his club football in Saudi Arabia for a reason.

FW - Kylian Mbappe (France)

Kylian Mbappe has still failed to score an open play goal at the Euros, with his penalty versus Poland the only goal he has ever scored in the competition (eight matches).

France's attack was fairly blunt at Euro 2024 and while Didier Deschamps has been widely criticised for this, the finishing of his players is also to blame.

Mbappe was notably poor and he failed to deliver the world-class performances expected from a player with his talent level.

Wearing a mask, after breaking his nose, wasn't ideal, but Mbappe simply wasn't up to scratch at Euro 2024.

Real Madrid fans will be hoping for far better when he arrives in Spain.