How Cherries players fared at Euro 2024published at 16:18 27 June 2024
Image source, Getty ImagesBournemouth's three representatives at Euro 2024 in Germany have all exited the tournament after the completion of the group stage.
Scotland's Ryan Christie, Ukraine's Illia Zabarnyi and Hungary's Milos Kerkez may share stories of heartbreak when they reunite on England's south coast in the coming weeks, but how did each fare in their respective three games?
Ryan Christie
Christie started and endured Scotland's tough opening 5-1 defeat by Germany, in which they played the entire second half with 10 men.
That result left Steve Clarke's men with an uphill task and, with pressure to make changes, Christie was handed late substitute appearances in the 1-1 draw with Switzerland and the 1-0 loss to Hungary which sealed their fate.
Milos Kerkez
Kerkez started all three of Hungary's games, travelling up and down the left side in Marco Rossi's 3-4-2-1 system.
The 20-year-old did nothing to deter the potential suitors who have been linked with him recently, displaying his trademark strength, energy and calmness on the ball while illustrating his versatility in a more unfamiliar wing-back role.
He worked himself into the ground, as shown by his withdrawal late on in each game, and can consider himself unlucky not to be part of a team that progressed given Hungary only missed out on being one of the best performing third-placed teams on goal difference.
Illia Zabarnyi
Zabarnyi played every minute of Ukraine's campaign and is perhaps the most unfortunate of the three to not still be in Germany.
Ukraine finished on four points - one more than Hungary finished third in their group with - but with every team in Group E also on four, they exited on goal difference.
After a difficult defensive display in the eventually decisive 3-0 defeat by Romania, Zabarnyi performed admirably in the 2-1 win over Slovakia and was a standout performer with several key blocks and interventions to keep a clean sheet in the 0-0 draw with Belgium.
Unfortunately for him and his team-mates, those results were not enough.
