EURO 2024: Five impressions that will stay with you from matchday one
1: Effectiveness
Effectiveness wins. This was demonstrated above all by the Spaniards, who decided their match against Croatia within a few minutes in what was actually an evenly balanced game. The Croatians, on the other hand, didn't of capitalise on their chances - and even missed a penalty through Bruno Petkovic.
Portugal impressively proved against the Czech Republic that you don't always need big chances: an own goal and another mistake by the Czech defence gave the 2016 European champions, who otherwise gritted their teeth for 90 minutes, a fortunate 2-1 victory.
The German team was also effective in the opening match against Scotland. After early goals from Florian Witz, Jamal Musiala and Kai Havertz, they were 3-0 up early on against the Scots.
2: Goals worth seeing
It's been the European Championships of beautiful goals so far: a total of 11 shots from distance have already found their way into the opponent's net at this tournament.
Our favourite: Emre Can's goal to make the final score 4:1 against Scotland.
3: Still no record for Ronaldo
Well, that's not entirely true, of course. Cristiano Ronaldo was the first player in the history of football to play in six different European Championships - a new record! However, he still has to wait for the moment when he is crowned the oldest goalscorer in the competition.
In the opening game against the Czech Republic, he had several half-chances before he smashed the ball against the post just before the end, albeit from an offside position. Ronaldo's next chance will come against Turkey on Saturday.
4: Favourites show no weakness
Portugal, France, England, Germany and the Netherlands: All the teams from the narrow group of favourites won their opening matches - and left a more or less confident impression.
England and Portugal wobbled and put in rather mediocre performances, while France were characterised by their efficiency and winning mentality against a stubborn Austria. The best impression was probably made by the playful Dutch in their 2-1 win against Poland, as well as the German team against Scotland.
Spain clearly won the top match of matchday one against Croatia 3-0, and Italy also announced their ambitions with a composed performance against Albania. Belgium were the only team to suffer a result-related setback - and suffered a bitter 1-0 defeat against Slovakia.
5: Great atmosphere in the cities
Germany in a state of emergency: in the first few days of the European Championship, it was able to marvel at great pictures of frenetically celebrating spectators and peaceful football parties in the 10 host cities.
The winner among the fans, however, is quite clear: the fans of Oranje, who took over the city centre of Hamburg in a march of thousands of Dutch people.
