50 MOMENTS THAT ROCKED THE EUROS

1 LORD BENDTNER THROWS A PADDY (2012)

Nicklas Bendtner was never the shy and retiring type, so it wasn’t a huge surprise when the then-Arsenal striker got himself into trouble at Euro 2012 for divulging his drawers. The act of revealing his underwear – when celebrating a goal in Denmark’s 3-2 defeat to Portugal – would probably have been forgiven, had his waistband not been adorned with the logo of bookmakers Paddy Power. UEFA fined Bendtner €100,000, but his sponsors happily picked up the tab and the publicity baton, calling the punishment “hysterical and deeply cynical”. Nevertheless, the flamboyant frontman was banned for the first game of Denmark’s 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign as a result. Now that is pants.

2 DOMENECH’S INDECENT PROPOSAL (2008)

Shrugging enigmatically in the face of adversity is superbly French behaviour, and Bleus coach Raymond Domenech pulled off a humdinger after their defeat to Italy at Euro 2008. Asked live on national TV if he’d consider resignation after France’s shoddy finish at the bottom of Group C, he simply purred, “I have only one plan – to marry Estelle... and it is only this evening that I ask for her hand in marriage... I need her.” Touché, Raymond – the interviewer didn’t know whether to continue his grilling or offer hearty congratulations. Mademoiselle Estelle Denis was less impressed: although the two remain together – Domenech 69, Denis 44 – they still haven’t tied the knot.

3 RACE ROW TURNS ORANJE TO A PULP (1996)

A tabloid photo of black players and white players sitting apart at the lunch table sparked rumours of “racial cliques” within an already unsettled Dutch camp. The team’s listless displays – they were eliminated by France in the last eight when Suriname-born Clarence Seedorf missed a penalty and Edgar Davids was sent home by Guus Hiddink – added fuel to the fire. Davids and Seedorf both subsequently claimed it was a row about age against youth, with regards to pay. Whatever the specifics, it was clearly still a sore subject in 2010, when Davids refused to talk about it in an FFT interview.

4 PORTUGAL LOSE THEIR SHIRT (2000)

There’s no shame in being undone by Zinedine Zidane at the peak of his powers, but it was enough for Portugal to collectively lose the plot as they maniacally berated the officials in their Brussels semi-final. As Abel Xavier’s goal-line handball was spotted by the linesman and Zizou scored the golden-goal penalty, they embarked on a mass protest that resulted in Nuno Gomes being sent off and banned for eight months, Paulo Bento for six and Xavier himself for nine. Gomes later clarified: “I didn’t throw my shirt at the ref – I wanted to give it to him so that every time he looked at it, he’d remember what he did to our nation.” That’s all right then.

5 JIMMY JUMPS INTO LUIS FIGO’S BAD BOOKS (2004)

Serial event-ruiner Jimmy Jump may have become tiresome with his antics – over time, his ‘highlights’ included splashing into a water polo pool, storming the Eurovision stage and, uh, invading a Hungarian weather forecast – but there was genuine shock and a certain artistry to the Catalan’s headline-making debut at the Euro 2004 Final in Lisbon, between Portugal and Greece. He tossed a Barça flag into the face of a miffed Luis Figo – who, years earlier, had left the Catalan club to join Real Madrid – and then emphatically