Manchester City saw a significant number of players feature for their countries at the 2024 European Championship.
With 14 players from Pep Guardiola’s ranks picked to play in the recent tournament for a range of sides, only one of them ended up lifting the trophy after Rodri’s Spain beat England 2-1 in the final.
Now that the tournament is over, one pundit has been sharing his thoughts on the competition and who some of the standout players were in it.
In fact, one of City’s key players has now been praised for what he did for his country over the past few weeks.
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Tony Cascarino hails Manuel Akanji for Euro 2024 performances
While assessing the recent tournament in Germany for an article in The Times, Tony Cascarino had this to say about the efforts of Manuel Akanji for Switzerland.
He said: “His miss in the quarter-final shoot-out against England proved decisive, but at that stage, he had been the tournament’s best performer. He was rock-solid.”
Akanji impressed for Switzerland at Euro 2024
The defender, who Danny Murphy described as a “Rolls-Royce” earlier this month, played every minute of action for Switzerland as he helped them get to the quarter-final stage.
After a 1-1 draw with England, the City star missed his penalty in the shootout, as Cascarino mentioned, which ultimately led to the Three Lions making it to the semi-final stage.
As one of the four outfield players to play every minute of action for Switzerland, Akanji ended the tournament with the highest passing accuracy percentage (91.8%) out of players who attempted more than seven passes.
In addition to that, the centre-back, who City paid £15m to sign back in 2022, racked up the second-highest total of clearances (22) and joint-second highest for blocks (6) and interceptions (4).
Taking all of that into account, despite his penalty disappointment, it’s easy to see why Cascarino was so impressed by what he saw from Akanji.
