JAKARTA - Italy national team goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was named the Euro 2020 Player of the Year after his important contribution to being a hero in the penalty shootout in the final against England at Wembley, London, Sunday local time.
The technical reviewers on UEFA's official UEFA website selected Donnarumma, who is the first goalkeeper to ever win the individual award since it was awarded at Euro 1996.
3 clean sheets, 9 saves Semi-finals penalty shoot-out hero Final penalty shoot-out heroUEFA's team of Technical Observers have named Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma as their Player of the Tournament #EURO2020 | #ITA pic.twitter.com/HWGnaHLGkK
— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) July 11, 2021
Donnarumma has appeared in all seven of Italy's matches at Euro 2020 with a total of 719 minutes played, far more than all participants in the event.
The only time Donnarumma was out of goal for Italy came in the closing minutes of the final Group A match against Wales, when Roberto Mancini gave Salvatore Sirigu a chance to play.
Italy's solid defense did help Donarrumma not have much work to do at Euro 2020, but when faced with 13 attempted shots on target from opponents, the 22-year-old goalkeeper was able to secure nine of them.
Donnarumma's important role was so seen when Italy had to undergo penalty shootouts twice at Euro 2020, which occurred in the final two matches.
In the semi-final against Spain, Donnarumma saved Alvaro Morata's penalty to clear the way for Jorginho to score Italy's winning penalty into the final.
Then in the final, two of the three failed British penalty takers namely Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were successfully countered by Donnarumma.
When Donnarumma saved Saka's penalty, the goalkeeper who is now without a club walked calmly without celebrating too much, as if he was doing nothing more than a duty he did well.
Player of the Tournament Gianluigi Donnarumma inspiring Italy to EURO glory! @azzurri | #EURO2020 | #ITA pic.twitter.com/3sZgFWNI08
— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) July 11, 2021
Italy's Euro 2020 champion, Donnarumma won the Best Player award.
The following is a list of the Euro Player of the Year awards that have been awarded since the 1996 edition:
2020 - Gianluigi Donnarumma (Italy)
2016 - Antoine Griezmann (France)
2012 - Andres Iniesta (Spain)
2008 - Xavi Hernandez (Spain)
2004 - Theodoros Zagorakis (Greece)
2000 - Zinedine Zidane (France)
1996 - Matthias Sammer (Germany)
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