Not least Costa

All eyes will now be on Portugal when they face France in the quarter-finals on Friday. He made a great one-on-one save against Benjamin Cesko in extra time against Slovenia.

He was the third goalkeeper to be 'Man of the Match' in this Euro. The same Mamardasivi was selected as the best player in the match against the Czech Republic. Similarly, Poland's Lukasz Skorupci was the best of the match in the draw with France. Costa believes that he has never had a better opportunity in his football life. He says, 'Or let's say, I proved my usefulness in this game. I am very happy. Because I helped my country win.'

Mamardasivi was 23 years old. Since he had to defend continuously, he did not have any free time. For this he has no room to be happy with the performance of his defenders. He played 4 games in this Euro. Meanwhile, he made 29 saves. One of them was a 4-1 defeat against Spain. No one else has had to save her as much, not even half.

More precisely, Italy's Gianluigi Donnarumma, Belgium's Coen Castells and Slovenia's Jan Oblak have all made the same 14 saves. What a coincidence that the challenge of these three goalkeepers is no longer in the competition. Their country is gone. In particular, Georgia suffered 106 attacks in the tournament. Therefore, it was not difficult to understand how much Mamardasiv saved and its importance. It may be surprising that Georgia scored only eight goals because of him.

He suddenly did not perform so well as a goalkeeper. The Valencian goalkeeper has been eyed by big clubs since the beginning. Now there will be more. He almost joined Bayern Munich at the start of last season. He says, "It was almost decided to go to Bayern." My agent was in Munich, and my father had already looked for an apartment. But things didn't progress in the others, because as far as I understand, Bayern refused to pay 35 million euros for me.' After seeing his performance in the German soil, interest will increase. Among the goalkeepers who have played four games in Euro 2024, Costa is the goalkeeper who needs to save the least. And Yan Sonar from Switzerland. They have only saved 6-6.

Germany's Manuel Noya has one more save, seven. If we talk about Costa and the tiebreaker he faced, he believes he had the confidence to do so much. He says, “We studied how the opposition players hit. But the players change their style in decisive mode. I had full confidence, to stop some kind of blow. He showed it by stopping not one, but three shots.

When he thwarted Cesca's attack, he already had it in his mind that this would happen to him. Costa is adept at understanding the body language of opposition players. So he continues to save. His coach Roberto Martinez is happy with the performance of his goalkeeper. It is also natural.

He says, 'If there was some secret hidden in Portuguese football before the Euro, it was this goalkeeper Costa. I have had the opportunity to work with many goalkeepers in my coaching career. He is definitely the best among them. He is now experienced and mature. His performance has benefited the team a lot.'