EURO 2016 Team of the Tournament feat. Arsenal and Spurs stars

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Euro 2016 drew to its long-awaited conclusion in dramatic and unexpected fashion on Sunday in Saint-Denis as former Swansea flop Éder smashed home a superb winner in extra-time to steal the silverware for Portugal. Over the course of the biggest European Championships ever; which has shown all the excitement and emotion expected of a major tournament, who stood out and shone brightly enough to make the best XI of the tournament?

Read on over the next couple of pages to discover the line-up put together by The Boot Room, and leave your thoughts on it in the comments section below.

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Coach: Chris Coleman (Wales)

Although the uncharted territory of a semi-final was just a step too far for Wales, Coleman’s oratory brought about the story of the tournament. An average-looking Wales side bar a spine of decent players and a game-winning talisman in Gareth Bale, defied the odds to reach their first ever major semi-final in only their second ever tournament appearance, over 50 years since their last at the 1958 World Cup.

Coleman now presides over the greatest side in Welsh football history, and his astute tactical setup shadows that of Italy, with a deep lying 3-5-2 system using wing-backs to break forward and provide the width to break teams down, with two deep lying midfielders to cause problems in the centre of the park.

It is for this reason that the Tournament XI sets up in this way, having worked so effectively not only for Coleman’s Wales but Antonio Conte’s Italy in memorable wins over Belgium and Spain. Furthermore, Coleman’s passion in the dugout and his encouragement of his players to dream and believe means that he is surely a worthy candidate for Coach of the Tournament.

Formation: 3-4-1-2

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Goalkeeper: Hugo Lloris (France)

A very difficult choice to make, but the 29-year-old just shades it after conceding a mere five goals across his seven appearances and keeping three clean sheets. He beats off competition from Gianluigi Buffon, Rui Patricio, and Manuel Neuer for the accolade. 

His performances in the quarter-final with the Republic of Ireland and the semi-final against Germany were nothing short of sensational – particularly the latter performance against Germany will remain in the minds’ eye of French supporters for years to come. He was helpless to stop Éder’s winner in the final, and he was unlucky to only have taken a runner’s up medal from his country’s championships.

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Centre-Back: Jérôme Boateng (Germany)

His bizarre handball against Italy aside, Boateng was a solid and consistent performer in the German defence, which conceded a mere three goals across the whole tournament. He showed conviction in the way he broke out of defence and looked to pass the ball, and his fantastic 25-yard volley against Slovakia summed up his tournament.

The stoic Bayern defender was unlucky not to have made it into the final after a night in Marseille where everything went against his team.

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Centre-Back: Pepe (Portugal)

Real Madrid’s unpredictable hot-head improved as the tournament progressed for Portugal, and saved some of his best performances for when it really mattered in the knockout rounds. He relished aerial and physical battles, and it was rare that anything got beyond him.

In the final itself after the loss of Ronaldo, Pepe provided all the leadership on the field as his team clung on for a historic first major tournament triumph for Portugal. It has been a great season on the silverware front for the centre-half and on his performances in France, it is merited.

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Centre-Back: Leonardo Bonucci (Italy)

Another rock at the heart of defence, the Juventus stalwart simply had to be included. He was a real star in Italy’s campaign and was the epitome of a well drilled, defensive minded Italy side. He was cool under pressure when required to score his penalty to take their quarter-final with Germany to extra-time, but could not get the better of Manuel Neuer a second time unfortunately.

His Italy side were unlucky to lose on the lottery of a penalty shoot-out to Germany, and on another day, Bonucci’s performances may well have seen Italy at least into a semi-final berth.