The best of the UEFA EURO 2016 play-offs
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
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A curse was lifted for Ukraine, Sweden's favourite son sparkled and Gábor Király may be taking his famous jogging bottoms to France; UEFA.com digests six days of drama.
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- Hungary, Ireland, Sweden and Ukraine completed the finals lineup with play-off wins
- The final tournament draw is at 18.00CET on 12 December in Paris
- What do you think of our selections? Discuss on Twitter with @EuroQualifiers using #EURO2016
There were 268 UEFA EURO 2016 qualifiers and play-offs and you can watch highlights of them all.
Player: Gábor Király (Hungary)
Hungary won 1-0 in Norway thanks to a string of fine saves from the goalkeeper with the famous jogging bottoms. During the play-offs, Király became only the second player to win 100 caps for the Magyars. Turning 40 on 1 April next year, Király will become the first man in his fifth decade to appear at a UEFA EURO finals if he plays next summer.
Team: Our selection
UEFA.com play-off XI: Király (HUN); Shevchuk (UKR), Cesar (SVN), Keogh (IRL), Fedetskiy (UKR); Yarmolenko (UKR), McCarthy (IRL), Forsberg (SWE), Seleznyov (UKR); Walters (IRL), Ibrahimović (SWE).
Goal: Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden)
"It was fantastic to watch Zlatan put the free-kick into the back of the net," beamed coach Erik Hamrén as he reflected on the Paris Saint-Germain forward's sweetly-struck dead ball – the goal that effectively put a UEFA EURO 2016 place beyond Denmark. "What can you say? He is like family and I love him."
Number: 15
"Today was a hard walk up here to the press conference," Morten Olsen said as he confirmed that his 15-year spell as Denmark coach – one of the longest national-team tenures in European history – was over after his side's elimination. "It is really hurtful to end it this way. It is such a shame not to go to the EURO. And it is my responsibility."
Sixth-time lucky: Ukraine
Ukraine lost to Slovenia in the UEFA EURO 2000 play-offs, and failed in all four of their equivalent FIFA World Cup ties, so they had every reason to panic after going behind early in Maribor, having secured a 2-0 win in the home fixture. However, Mykhailo Fomenko's men showed impressive composure, reaching the finals with a 1-1 draw.
Quote: "We didn't deserve anything after the way we performed ... Who knows if we will ever get the chance to play at a EURO?"
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