By Reinaldo Oliveros
08 Jul 2024, 10:32 AM EDT
There are four teams left at Euro 2024 and there are three that can win the Champions League and European Championship double in a single edition.
The Spanish Nacho Fernandez, Dani Carvajal and Joselu Mato; the French Ferland Mendy, Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eduardo Camavinga and the English Jude Bellingham, Real Madrid players, are the remaining contenders for Euro 2024.
There will be at least two members in the final, since Spain and France face each other in the semi-finals.
Bellingham will have to earn the right to fight for it. in Dortmund against the Netherlands, the only one of the last four Euro teams that does not have a Real Madrid player in its ranks.
The Spaniard Luis Suárez, the only Spanish Ballon d’Or winner to date, inaugurated this select catalogue when he lifted the European Cup with Inter Milan in 1964, and the European Championship against the Soviet Union, with the team coached by José Villalonga.
In 1988, PSV Eindhoven enjoyed the best campaign in its history, winning a treble and winning the European Cup against Benfica.
Just a month later, the Netherlands, also on German soil, won the European Championship against the USSR, with Hans van Breukelen in their line-up. Ronald Koeman, Berry van Aerle, Gerald Vanenburg and Wim Kieft.
The next to achieve the precious double would be two Frenchmen: Christian Karembeu and Nicolas AnelkaIn 2000, they won the Champions League with Real Madrid in Paris and participated in the European Championship in Belgium and the Netherlands, which France won.
In 2012, in the edition played between Ukraine and Poland, Juan Mata and Fernando Torres played in the final in kyiv against Italy, in which both scored, the same as they had achieved with Chelsea in Munich against the host Bayern.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe participated in Portugal’s feat against France and they also won the Champions League against Atlético de Madrid in 2016.
The latest additions are Jorginho and Emerson with Italy. Both were part of the Chelsea squad that won the Champions League against Manchester City in 2021. And a month later they did the same for the ‘Azzurra’ against England.
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