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Topics: Euro 2024, England, Roy Keane, Portugal, Pepe, Spain, Ian Wright, Graeme Souness, Football, France
Roy Keane has picked his favourites to win Euro 2024, as dismisses one player who he thinks will ‘get caught out.’
The first match of the 2024 European Championships kicked off last night, as hosts Germany put on a dominant display as they beat Scotland 5-1.
England remain the favourites going into the tournament, ahead of France, Germany and Portugal.
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In the opening fixture of their campaign on Sunday, the Three Lions face Serbia in the Arena AufSchalke, home of second-tier German side Schalke.
And Manchester United legend Roy Keane has picked England as one of his picks to win the tournament.
Alongside England, Keane pointed out France and Germany as the three best teams competing at Euro 2024.
However, the former Manchester United midfielder has ruled out Portugal, saying that their back line isn’t strong enough to win the tournament.
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“I don’t fancy them,” Keane told ITV.
“They’ve got obviously brilliant, talented attacking players. But again, I go back defensively, I’ve got France, England and Germany ahead of them.”
Keane singled out 41-year-old centre back Pepe, as being a potential liability in the Portuguese team.
He added: “He’s still playing, fair play to him, an amazing player and an amazing career, but I think he’ll get caught out.”
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Euro 2024 will be the defenders’ ninth major tournament with Portugal and, once he makes his first appearance at the tournament, he will become the oldest player to ever play at the European Championships.
But former Liverpool midfielder Graeme Souness disagreed with the Irishman, claiming that Portugal are one of his ‘dark horses.’
“I think the dark horses would be Portugal and Netherlands, no one is talking about them, they’ve had some good results,” responded Souness.
"Right now, Germany are a very dangerous team if they get momentum behind them, playing at home. Momentum is definitely with them.
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“But I think England would be a match for that Germany team. I’m not sure how good Germany are because we [Scotland] were so bad.”
Keane also dismissed Spain, who he believes will be knocked out in the latter stages of the competition.
He continued: “We know the qualities they have, again you always worry about that, they’ve got some brilliant, young talented players.
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“Again, you think Spain will be in the mix, but you just think they’ll come up short.”
However, former England striker Ian Wright believes that the Spanish team could pose a threat in the tournament due to their abundance of young talent.
He said: “The thing again with Spain, [Lamine] Yamal and [Nico] Williams on the wings, they pass the ball around but now they can get out. They’ll be a problem, Spain.”
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