The Euro 2024 team of the group stage - featuring Crystal Palace & Chelsea stars

With the group stage wrapped up, we’re now officially over 70% of the way through this summer’s tournament – a rather depressing thought, really, because the group stages have been wildly entertaining with more than enough goals (and own goals) to keep us royally amused, at least as long as we didn’t watch too many games in Group C.

To celebrate the best of the many superb performers of the past fortnight, we’ve compiled our Euro 2024 Group Stage XI – featuring a heady mix of rising superstars, established pros, and at least one player that most Premier League fans thought was pretty rubbish.

Goalkeeper - Giorgi Mamardashvili (Georgia)

There’s no real argument over the number one shirt. The towering Valencia goalkeeper made 21 saves through the group stages and the quality of strikes needed to get anything past him was astonishing – there were a couple of absolute screamers and one occasion on which he left an open net when going up for a late corner, but apart from that he’s not been beaten by anything humanly possible to save. Capped his group stage with a colossal clean sheet against Portugal and has probably added a few digits onto his asking price, given that Newcastle United and Chelsea have been linked with a bid.

Left-Back – Marc Cucurella (Spain)

It’s surprising to most Chelsea fans that he was even in the Spain squad in the first place, and shocking to almost everyone that he got the nod to start ahead of Bayer Leverkusen’s brilliant Álex Grimaldo, but the bouncy-haired left-back has been rock solid against Croatia, genuinely superb against Italy, and then got to stick his feet up while the reserves got a game against Albania. There’s a lot of people at Stamford Bridge who wouldn’t mind if he played like this a little more often.

Centre-Back – Riccardo Calafiori (Italy)

Italy haven’t been remotely convincing in the early stages of their title defence, but Bologna centre-half Calafiori has been a cut above, making a string of crucial interventions (especially against Croatia) and providing the Azzurri with an excellent base for possession as well. Really, the only black mark on his record was his unfortunate own goal against Spain when he simply couldn’t get his feet out of the way of a deflected cross – and it’s a harsh judge who would blame him for that one.

Centre-Back – Marc Guéhi (England)

Before the tournament started, nobody was worried about England’s midfield or attack and everyone was panicking about the defence, especially with Harry Maguire out through injury. As it turned out, public and pundits alike had it back to front – Guéhi has been quite brilliant so far, especially against Serbia, while everyone further up the pitch has looked tired and devoid and confidence. By expected goals allowed, England have had the best defence of the group stage, with Guéhi as its beating heart.

Right-Back – Joshua Kimmich (Germany)

Kimmich has been the same player as always – a calm, controlled and dominant force at right-back who seldom puts a foot wrong, passes the ball around superbly and lets very little past him in defence. He was especially exceptional in the 2-0 win over Hungary but he’s got everything important right thus far and both his distribution and the large number of turnovers he’s forced (over four per game) have been worth their weight in gold to a resurgent German side.

Centre Midfield – Toni Kroos (Germany)

As Scotland discovered to their cost, if you give Kroos room to knock the ball about he will simply tear you to pieces by himself. His expansive, accurate passing range has made him the beating heart of an impressive host nation – and even during the slightly underwhelming 1-1 draw with Switzerland he ran the show for large periods, completing no fewer than 99 passes and creating several presentable chances. This is his swan song, and he’s hitting every note so far.

Centre Midfield - İlkay Gündoğan (Germany)

Another position, another German. We did think about Spain’s Fabián Ruiz or France’s N’Golo Kanté here, partly because the former Manchester City man didn’t have an especially great game against the Swiss, but the pass with which he carved Scotland open to tee up Jamal Musiala’s goal, and his dominant outing against Hungary when he bagged a goal and an assist gave him the edge. He’s been playing like a man ten years younger and giving Germany so much control and penetration at the same time.

Attacking Midfield – Kevin de Bruyne (Belgium)

Belgium are another side who have struggled to live up to expectations so far, but De Bruyne has been his usual brilliant self, winning back-to-back player of the match awards as he lead his country into the last 16 despite a shock opening week defeat to Slovakia. Capped a superb performance against Romania by haring through off the shoulder of the last man to score like he’d been a number nine his entire career. God knows where the last gasp of Belgium’s golden generation would be without him.

Left Wing – Cody Gakpo (Netherlands)

The versatile Liverpool forward has excelled on the Dutch left flank so far, scoring a critical goal against Poland on the opening weekend and then bagging another in the 3-2 defeat to Austria with a fine finish. His movement, in particular, has been exceptional and has made him the Netherlands’ most dangerous attacking outlet over the course of the three games so far, often picking up the slack left by a lacklustre midfield and by players like Memphis Depay who have been guilty of drifting in and out of games.

Right Wing – Jamal Musiala (Germany)

Granted, Musiala has not been playing on the right wing and this is a bit of a shoehorn job, but the young Anglo-German forward (on behalf of England, we’ll absolutely keep claiming him if we can) has been excellent thus far, scoring a rocket against Scotland and bagging again against the Hungarians, all while finding pockets of space all over the final third to terrorise defences and tee up chances for his team-mates. Breathtakingly good for such a young player.

Centre Forward – Georges Mikautadze (Georgia)

The leading scorer of the tournament so far and the chin-strapped wonder whose running, movement and assured finishing have been crucial to Georgia’s joyous run to the knock-out rounds. Sure, two of his goals came from 12 yards and the other owed something to some distinctly dodgy Turkish defending, but what are you meant to do, downplay the achievement of Euro 2024’s best goalscorer because he only put away easy chances? He’s been superb, and one of the breakout stars of the competition.