Emanuele Giaccherini - v Germany (Stade De Bordeaux, Bordeaux) - 6
Emanuele Giaccherini and his Italy team mates finally bowed out of this year's competition, losing an absolutely awful penalty shootout to current world champions Germany after the match ended 1-1 in normal time.
Giacchy's main contribution of the evening was to dispatch of his spot kick with ease, though during the game we saw a fairly hard-working, decent performance from the midfielder, something which we've seen consistently throughout the tournament.
Germany dominated much of the possession, as you would expect, and Giaccherini didn't see a great deal of the ball. And, when he did, he was fairly wasteful - at 76% his pass success ratio was one of the worst of all the players on the pitch.
He was also dispossessed more than any other Italian player, though he did attempt more dribbles than any other player on the pitch. One thing you can never fault Giaccherini for is his work on and off the ball - it's why Antonio Conte loves him so much.
Giaccherini's role in the Italy side is to sit on the left of a midfield three, to restrict space and be an option creatively when the team get forward. Though it suits him immensely, you have to wonder whether or not he'd be afforded that type of a role at Sunderland by Sam Allardyce, a manager who traditionally wouldn't see a player that stands at 5"4 as being a good enough fit for his system.
I guess we will wait and see. If the fee that it would command for a team to sign him is relatively low, we must ask ourselves whether or not it is worth holding onto a player of his experience and quality to be a part of what must become a very competitive Sunderland squad next season.
Let's say, at a guess, we'd be looking at recouping around two million quid for him. Could we replace him with someone better with that money? If the answer is yes, then great, but if the answer is 'no' or 'maybe' then Sam Allardyce should be seriously considering whether or not Giaccherini is worth holding on to until at the least the end of August, where he could properly answer that question and assess whether or not he feels Giaccherini can be a part of his side.
He's certainly shown his worth at this year's European Championships.
Stats taken from WhoScored.com