Top five players who are set to miss UEFA Euro 2020

These talented footballers have been forced to sit out the mega tournament due to several unavoidable circumstances.

The UEFA Euro 2020 is right around the corner since the club football season is coming to a conclusion. The 24 participating teams are gearing up to mount a strong challenge and will try to win the prestigious tournament. To that effect, the nations have announced potent lineups that will don the national colors at the competition. 

However, some fan favorite footballers will not feature at the Euros. This is either due to injuries or their national teams failing to qualify. Some have even faced surprise exclusions from their squads.

Here are five players such who will not feature at the UEFA Euro 2020 and their unavailability could hurt their team’s chances.

5. Virgil Van Dijk

Virgil Van Dijk has been out of action for a considerable amount of time. The Liverpool center-back suffered a serious knee injury during a game against Everton in the Merseyside derby earlier during the 2020/21 season. The seriousness of the anterior cruciate ligament injury meant he was out for the rest of the season.

Since then, the Dutch international has been working on his road to recovery. However, the 29-year-old decided against taking part in the Euros. “With everything that is going on, I feel physically it is the right decision that I've decided not to go to Euro 2020 and to go into my last phase of rehab during the off-season”, he told Liverpool’s official website. 

4. Jan Oblak

Jan Oblak is one of the best goalkeepers in the world, if not the best. The shot-stopper represents Slovenia on the international stage and will not be playing at Euro 2020. The 28-year-old will be missing from action since Slovenia could not manage to enter the finals stages.

The Atletico Madrid player has not represented Slovenia at any major international tournament. The national team failed to qualify from Group G of the Euro 2020 qualifiers, which saw Austria and Poland secure the two available spots.  

3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been sensational since returning to the Serie A as an AC Milan player from the MLS. At the age of 39, Ibrahimovic scored 17 goals and made three assists in 27 appearances. Moreover, the forward came out of international retirement after a period of five years to help Sweden at the Euros.

Unfortunately for the striker and the fans of the Swedish national team, he picked up a knee injury in a 3-0 victory over rivals Juventus. The injury meant the former Manchester United player would not be fit in time to take part in the tournament. The Swedish football association soon announced that the striker will not play at the Euro 2020. 

2. Erling Haaland

Erling Haaland is one of the hottest properties in the world football right now. The striker was recently named the 2020/21 Bundesliga Player of the Year after a successful season with Borussia Dortmund. However, the Norwegian will not be representing his country at the upcoming tournament because they could not qualify.

Norway missed the bus after losing to Serbia in the qualifying play-off, despite a generation of exceptional young players like Martin Odegaard, Sander Berge, Alexander Sorloth and Haaland himself in the squad. He will be one of the major misses Eueo 2020, which will have a lot of young talents on display. 

1. Sergio Ramos

Spain announced their provisional squad recently with a few major players excluded from the lineup. Sergio Ramos was one of the players that were not picked for the Euro 2020, raising a lot of eyebrows. The center-back has not played enough football in the past season and there were doubts over his fitness.

Interestingly, former FC Barcelona manager Luis Enrique did not pick a single player from Real Madrid in the squad for the tournament. Having said that, Aymeric Laporte’s inclusion after he changed allegiance from France to Spain may have been one of the factors for the decision to overlook Ramos. 

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