Euro 2024: Depay, Zaccagni, Guler and the best goals of the group stage

The Euro 2024 group stage has been full of great matches and spectacular goals. Apart from Group C of course – labelled the 'Group of Dearth' by the British media. Sorry, England fans. If it's any consolation, France haven't been much better.

The other five groups have certainly made up for it, however, and below is our selection of the 10 best strikes from the opening two weeks of the tournament. If the last 16, which starts on Saturday, can match this lot then Euro 2024 will go down as one of the best tournaments of recent years.

10. Niclas Fullkrug, Germany v Scotland

Germany set the tone for the tournament with their 5-1 opening day rout of Scotland. Fullkrug might be playing second fiddle to Kai Havertz up front but has still managed to bag two goals from the bench in the group stage.

The first came against the overmatched Scots in Munich as he came on as a second-half substitute and netted a 68th-minute rocket. The ball sat up nicely for the Borussia Dortmund striker and he absolutely thumped it into the top corner from the edge of the box.

9. Fabian Ruiz, Spain v Croatia

There haven't been too many individual goals scored at the tournament so far, but Ruiz's strike and all-round performance in Spain's tournament opening 3-0 win over Croatia helped his side hit the ground running in Germany.

The Paris Saint-Germain midfielder had already created the opener with a perfect through ball for Alvaro Morata before dancing past two men on the edge of the area and firing in a shot that nicked off Josip Sutalo on its way past Dominik Livakovic in the Croatia goal.

8. Memphis Depay, Netherlands v Austria

The Netherlands forward saved his best for last with this stunning volley in a 3-2 defeat to Austria in his side's final group game. This goal briefly made it 2-2 as the flamboyant frontman controlled Wout Weghorst's flick with his chest, adjusted and sent an improvised volley into the far corner.

The Austrians dampened Dutch spirits by promptly grabbing a winner and leaving Ronald Koeman's team going through third in the group. Depay is a free agent this summer after parting ways with Atletico Madrid.

7. Morten Hjulmand, Denmark v England

After England had taken the lead in Frankfurt and predictably began sitting deeper and deeper, the Danes grasped control of this Group C clash.

An equaliser looked on the cards and when it arrived it did so in spectacular fashion. The defensive midfielder, who plays his football in Portugal with Sporting, received the ball a full 30 yards from goal, took a touch to get it out of his feet and unleashed an unstoppable right-foot shot that smacked in off the foot of Jordan Pickford's right-hand post.

6. Mattia Zaccagni, Italy v Croatia

With Italy fighting to secure a runners-up spot in Group B, they found themselves trailing 1-0 to the streetwise Croats in Leipzig and looking at having to progress as one of the best third-placed teams.

The Azzurri, champions of Euro 2020, were unwilling to accept defeat and surged forwards in the closing stages as if it were the dying stages of a semi-final.

It was the 98th-minute – the eighth of the 10 added by the officials – when centre-back Riccardo Calafiori drove towards the edge of the box before releasing the ball to his left. Zaccagni, arriving from his berth on the wing, opened up his body to finish first time into the far top corner to stylishly seal the vital point his side required.

5. Mert Muldur, Turkey v Georgia

Poor old Mert Muldur scored this stunning volley only to be upstaged by his teammate Arda Guler (see below). But for fans of volleyed goals, this was comfortably the best of the group stage.

Muldur's eyes lit up as a Georgian defensive header spun into the air and dropped to him on the edge of the box. The Fenerbahce full-back met it with a ferocious right-footed strike, cutting across the ball to send it arrowing into the top corner and giving the goalkeeper no chance.

4. Nicolae Stanciu, Romania v Ukraine

Stanciu, who plays his football in the Saudi Pro League with Damac, called this the best goal of his career.

And that comes after a career full of memorable strikes from a player with a penchant for the spectacular. His breakthrough goal here set in motion a sequence of events that would ultimately lead the Romanians to the last 16 as group winners.

Ukraine were probably slight favourites but Stanciu's sublime shot, reversed first time into the top corner from the edge of the box, put them on course for a 3-0 win in their opening match.

3. Xherdan Shaqiri, Switzerland v Scotland

It wouldn't be the Euros without some magic from Shaqiri. The scorer of an outrageous bicycle kick against Poland at Euro 2016, and another long-range screamer against Turkey in Euro 2020, the diminutive Swiss talisman netted for the third Euros in a row with a trademark strike. A scorer of great goals throughout his career, the 32-year-old forward curled in a majestic effort from outside the box to get his side back on level terms.

Shaqiri, who has played for clubs in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, England, France and now the USA, in a nomadic career, was the first to react to Anthony Ralston’s errant back pass, running on to the ball and sweeping a first-time shot into the top corner of the Scotland goal. Viewed from behind you get a full appreciation of the curl he generated and see that it even kissed the very top of the post to earn extra points for aesthetics.

2. Arda Guler, Turkey v Georgia

Long-range goals have been a feature of the tournament so far, and there were none better than Guler's jaw-dropping finish against Georgia in Group F.

With Georgia coming a cropper attempting to play their way out of trouble, Turkey midfielder Kaan Ayhan's challenge caused the ball to spill into the path of Guler in the inside right channel.

Needing no invitation, the 19-year-old Real Madrid forward surged into the space in front of him, opened his body up and shaped an exquisite left-footed shot into the far top corner. The Georgians might have been a little slow to realise the danger and get out to him, but the strike was as pure as anything you will see at this tournament.

1. Roman Yaremchuk, Ukraine v Slovakia

You just rarely see goals like this anymore. There was no pre-orchestrated attacking pattern designed on the training ground to yield a high-percentage chance. Nope, the big striker lost his man with some astute movement, prompting a midfielder to take on a high-risk pass over the top and thus created one of the moments of the group stage. It was reminiscent of Cesc Fabregas pitching in behind for Diego Costa at Chelsea in 2014/15.

Having been on the end of a shock 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Romania in their opening game, the Ukrainians desperately needed a win against Slovakia to reinvigorate their qualification hopes and lift morale.

But with 80 minutes on the clock it looked like they would have to settle for a point – that was until Mykola Shaparenko got on the ball. The midfielder, who had already scored in the game, spotted Yaremchuk peeling away from his marker and clipped an inch-perfect ball over the Slovakia defence.

In that moment, Yaremchuk seemed to be possessed by the spirit of Dennis Bergkamp as he watched the ball drop over his shoulder, brought it down with the deftest of touches, quickly adjusted his feet under pressure, and poked it past the onrushing keeper. Absolutely sublime, and a moment to remember for Ukraine and their fans.

Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts

Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.

The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.

Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.

More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.

The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.

Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:

November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.

May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.

April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.

February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.

December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.

July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.

May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.

New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”