European Football Championship 2008 / Group C

In Group C of the European Football Championship 2008 there were the world champions and runners-up world champions from 2006, Italy and France, as well as the strong team from the Netherlands, which is why this group was considered the most difficult in advance. The Netherlands were able to qualify as group winners for the quarter-finals with three outstanding victories, while Italy secured second place with a win in a direct duel against France. Despite good performances and two draws against the world champion and the runner-up, Romania was only third ahead of the disappointing French team.

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Netherlands	3	3	0	0	009: 100	+8	09
2.	Italy	3	1	1	1	003: 400	−1	04th
3.	Romania	3	0	2	1	001: 300	−2	02
4th	France	3	0	1	2	001: 600	−5	01

Romania 0-0 France

Romania		France		Lineup
	1st matchday Monday, June 9, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. in Zurich ( Letzigrund ) Spectators: 30,585 (sold out) Referee: Manuel Mejuto González ( Spain )   Match report
	Bogdan Lobonț - Cosmin Contra , Gabriel Tamaș , Dorin Goian , Răzvan Raț - Răzvan Cociș (64th Paul Codrea ), Mirel Rădoi (90 + 3 ' Nicolae Dică ), Cristian Chivu - Bănel Nicoliță , Daniel Niculae , Adrian Mutu (78th Marius Niculae ) Coach: Victor Pițurcă	Grégory Coupet - Willy Sagnol , Lilian Thuram , William Gallas , Éric Abidal - Franck Ribéry , Jérémy Toulalan , Claude Makélélé , Florent Malouda - Nicolas Anelka (72nd Bafétimbi Gomis ), Karim Benzema (78th Samir Nasri ) Trainer: Raymond Domenech
	Daniel Niculae (27.), Cosmin Contra (40.), Dorin Goian (43.)	Willy Sagnol (51st)
	Player of the Match: Claude Makélélé (France)

Netherlands - Italy 3: 0 (2: 0)

Netherlands		Italy		Lineup
	1st matchday Monday, June 9, 2008 at 8:45 p.m. in Bern ( Stade de Suisse ) Spectators: 30,777 (sold out) Referee: Peter Fröjdfeldt ( Sweden )   Match report
	Edwin van der Sar - André Ooijer , Khalid Boulahrouz (77th John Heitinga ), Joris Mathijsen , Giovanni van Bronckhorst - Nigel de Jong , Orlando Engelaar - Dirk Kuyt (81st Ibrahim Afellay ), Rafael van der Vaart , Wesley Sneijder - Ruud van Nistelrooy (70th Robin van Persie ) Coach: Marco van Basten	Gianluigi Buffon - Christian Panucci , Andrea Barzagli , Marco Materazzi (54th Fabio Grosso ), Gianluca Zambrotta - Massimo Ambrosini , Andrea Pirlo , Gennaro Gattuso - Mauro Camoranesi (75th Antonio Cassano ), Luca Toni , Antonio Di Natale (64th Alessandro Del Piero ) Trainer: Roberto Donadoni
	1: 0 van Nistelrooy (26th) 2: 0 Sneijder (31st) 3: 0 van Bronckhorst (79th)
	Nigel de Jong (58th)	Luca Toni (27.), Gianluca Zambrotta (35.), Gennaro Gattuso (51.)
	Player of the Match: Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands)

Italy - Romania 1: 1 (0: 0)

Italy		Romania		Lineup
	2nd matchday Friday, June 13, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. in Zurich ( Letzigrund ) Spectators: 30,585 (sold out) Referee: Tom Henning Øvrebø ( Norway )   Match report
	Gianluigi Buffon - Gianluca Zambrotta , Christian Panucci , Giorgio Chiellini , Fabio Grosso - Andrea Pirlo , Daniele De Rossi - Mauro Camoranesi (85th Massimo Ambrosini ), Simone Perrotta (57th Antonio Cassano ), Alessandro Del Piero (77th Fabio Quagliarella ) - Luca Toni Trainer: Roberto Donadoni	Bogdan Lobonț - Cosmin Contra , Gabriel Tamaș , Dorin Goian , Răzvan Raț - Mirel Rădoi (25th Nicolae Dică ) - Florentin Petre (60th Bănel Nicoliță ), Paul Codrea , Cristian Chivu - Daniel Niculae , Adrian Mutu (88th Răzvan Cociș ) Coach: Victor Pițurcă
	1: 1 Panucci (56th)	0: 1 Mutu (55th)
	Andrea Pirlo (61st), Daniele De Rossi (90th + 2 ')	Adrian Mutu (43.), Cristian Chivu (58.), Dorin Goian (73.)
		Buffon saves Mutu's penalty (81.)
	Player of the Match: Andrea Pirlo (Italy)

Netherlands - France 4: 1 (1: 0)

Netherlands		France		Lineup
	2nd matchday Friday, June 13, 2008 at 8:45 p.m. in Bern ( Stade de Suisse ) Spectators: 30,777 (sold out) Referee: Herbert Fandel ( Germany )   Match report
	Edwin van der Sar - Khalid Boulahrouz , André Ooijer , Joris Mathijsen , Giovanni van Bronckhorst - Nigel de Jong , Orlando Engelaar (46th Arjen Robben ) - Dirk Kuyt (55th Robin van Persie ), Rafael van der Vaart (78th Wilfred Bouma ), Wesley Sneijder - Ruud van Nistelrooy Trainer: Marco van Basten	Grégory Coupet - Willy Sagnol , Lilian Thuram , William Gallas , Patrice Evra - Jérémy Toulalan , Claude Makélélé - Sidney Govou (75th Nicolas Anelka ), Franck Ribéry , Florent Malouda (60th Bafétimbi Gomis ) - Thierry Henry Trainer: Raymond Domenech
	1: 0 Kuyt (9th) 2: 0 van Persie (59th) 3: 1 Robben (72nd) 4: 1 Sneijder (90th + 2 ')	2: 1 Henry (71st)
	André Ooijer (51st)	Claude Makélélé (32nd), Jérémy Toulalan (83rd)
	Player of the Match: Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands)

Netherlands - Romania 2: 0 (0: 0)

Netherlands		Romania		Lineup
	3rd matchday Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 8:45 p.m. in Bern ( Stade de Suisse ) Spectators: 30,777 (sold out) Referee: Massimo Busacca ( Switzerland )   Match report
	Maarten Stekelenburg - Khalid Boulahrouz (58th Mario Melchiot ), John Heitinga , Wilfred Bouma , Tim de Cler - Demy de Zeeuw , Orlando Engelaar - Ibrahim Afellay , Robin van Persie , Arjen Robben (61st Dirk Kuyt ) - Klaas-Jan Huntelaar ( 83. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink ) Trainer: Marco van Basten	Bogdan Lobonț - Cosmin Contra , Gabriel Tamaș , Sorin Ghionea , Răzvan Raț - Răzvan Cociș , Paul Codrea (72nd Nicolae Dică ), Cristian Chivu - Bănel Nicoliță (82nd Florentin Petre ), Marius Niculae (59th Daniel Niculae ), Adrian Mutu Coach: Victor Pițurcă
	1-0 Huntelaar (54th) 2-0 van Persie (87th)
		Cristian Chivu (78th)
	Player of the Match: Robin van Persie (Netherlands)

France - Italy 0: 2 (0: 1)

France		Italy		Lineup
	3rd matchday Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 8:45 p.m. in Zurich ( Letzigrund ) Spectators: 30,585 (sold out) Referee: Ľuboš Micheľ ( Slovakia )   Match report
	Grégory Coupet - François Clerc , William Gallas , Éric Abidal , Patrice Evra - Sidney Govou (66th Nicolas Anelka ), Jérémy Toulalan , Claude Makélélé , Franck Ribéry (10th Samir Nasri , 26th Jean-Alain Boumsong ) - Karim Benzema , Thierry Henry Trainer: Raymond Domenech	Gianluigi Buffon - Gianluca Zambrotta , Christian Panucci , Giorgio Chiellini , Fabio Grosso - Andrea Pirlo (55th Massimo Ambrosini ), Daniele De Rossi , Gennaro Gattuso (82nd Alberto Aquilani ) - Simone Perrotta (64th Mauro Camoranesi ) - Luca Toni , Antonio Cassano coach: Roberto Donadoni
		0: 1 Pirlo (25th, penalty kick) 0: 2 De Rossi (62.)
	Patrice Evra (18th), Sidney Govou (47th), Jean-Alain Boumsong (72nd), Thierry Henry (85th)	Andrea Pirlo (44th), Giorgio Chiellini (45th + 4 '), Gennaro Gattuso (54th)
	Éric Abidal (24th, emergency brake )
	Player of the Match: Daniele De Rossi (Italy)

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} The man of the game (English officially Carlsberg Man of the Match Award ) was chosen in an internet vote on euro2008.uefa.com .

Web links

• Group C on the official UEFA European Championship website ( Memento from May 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive )