🔬 The Debrief as France win, Slovakia stun Belgium, Romania smash Ukraine | OneFootball

EURO 2024 is well and truly up and running with six more sides starting their campaigns today.

Here's The Debrief of the action from day three.

What happened? 📝

Group E produced the first shock result as Ivan Schranz's early strike gave Slovakia a famous 1-0 win against Belgium, while Romania ran riot against a hapless Ukraine side, defeating them 3-0 with Nicolae Stanciu scoring the goal of the tournament so far.

Elsewhere, France got their campaign off to the perfect start with a hard-earned 1-0 victory over an impressive Austria side, a game which saw N'Golo Kanté roll back the years at the heart of Didier Deschamps' team but Kylian Mbappé suffer an apparent broken nose.

Player of the day 🔥

In truth, it could have been one of many from Romania and Slovakia such was their impressive team performances.

However, Radu Drăgușin was the defensive rock on which the former built their surprisingly brilliant 3-0 win over Ukraine.

The Tottenham man won every single one of his duels, made a tournament-high 10 clearances and gave LaLiga top scorer Artem Dovbyk little joy throughout the 90 minutes.

His celebrations when his side scored, made a tackle or blocked a shot said it all about his passion for his country.

Moment of the day

It was the goal of the tournament so far and one that set Romania on their way to just their second-ever European Championship win.

Ukrainian keeper Andriy Lunin's nightmare afternoon started when he passed the ball straight to Dennis Man but even still, what came next couldn't have been accounted for.

Man played the ball inside and Nicolae Stanciu hit a first-time strike that was in from the moment it left his boot. It nestled in the top corner and sent much of the Allianz Arena into a frenzy.

We can only hope that a better goal is scored over the next month.

Photo of the day 📸

What it means to every Slovak.

Stat of the day 📊

It was another one of those days for Belgium and Romelu Lukaku as they somehow failed to score against Slovakia.

The country's record goalscorer missed several gilt-edged opportunities but was desperately unlucky to be marginally offside for his first "goal" and then have a second ruled out due to a questionable handball on Johan Bakayoko in the build up.

The Red Devils were not impressive whatsoever but it seems when it rains, it pours right now for them.

What this means 🤔

France join the Netherlands at the top of Group D after their narrow win over Austria, but Ralf Rangnick's men can take serious encouragement from their display against many people's tip to win the whole tournament.

Few would have predicted Romania and Slovakia to be the top two sides in Group E after the opening round but that is the state of play. Belgium and Ukraine will both need to seriously step things up if they are to avoid an early exit.

What they said 🗣️

Romanian captain and hero Nicolae Stanciu was understandably overcome with emotion saying: "It was the goal of my career. This shirt means everything to me. To score at a EURO finals and to win in the manner that we did, it's just incredible. [The support] was unique, we've never felt anything like this before. My siblings, my father and my wife all had tears in their eyes. I'd like to thank them all and I hope we've made them very happy today.

Slovakia manager Francesco Calzona tried his hardest to stay calm after his side's shock victory over Belgium adding: "Our players did their best, they put in the effort and we beat a great opponent. I told the boys that we have to have the mentality that we can be equal to the best. It's a huge win, but we have to keep working. We are looking at the next games - we have to score in those games as well to meet our target and advance."

As for Belgium, Yannick Carrasco was already looking ahead, stating that he and his teammates "have to stay focused, we have two games left to qualify."

What comes next? ⏭️

The opening round of EURO 2024 comes to a close on Tuesday with the four sides from Group F in action.

Georgia will make their international tournament bow when they take on Türkiye while Portugal, winners in 2016 and one of the favourites this time around, clash with Czech Republic.