1984 - Two 'Perfect' Hat-tricks from Platini
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Michel Platini became the first, and still only, player to hit two
'perfect' hat-tricks
in the European Championships.
'Perfect' hat-tricks
consist of one goal from the right foot, one with the left, and one with head.
Platini achieved the feat in successive group games, the first in the 5:0 demolition
of Belgium, the second in 15 stunning minutes against Yugoslavia, which the French won 3:2.
For more details on this and the rest of Platini's heroics,
click here.
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2008 - A Not Very Optimistic Host Nation
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Going against the grain of normally optimistic hosts, the Austrians decided it was time for something
a bit different, and following a run of bad results in the lead up to the tournament a feeling
of impending doom and gloom swept the country. So convinced were the public that the national team
was going to flop big time and face possible humiliation at the hands of the big boys, that
Austrian psychologists offered courses for fans on 'despair management' before the tournament.
Claiming that the course could help turn defeat into joy, and that it would help to avoid the
gathering sense of catastrophe, the courses were said to be relatively popular having been publicised
heavily on the continent, to the particular delight of Austria's neighbours, Germany and Switzerland.
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General - Retaining the Trophy
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No country has ever successfully defended the trophy - the nearest anyone has come
was the USSR, who won it in 1960 and then lost in the 1964 final to Spain, and
West Germany, who went into the 1976 tournament as holders but lost the final on penalties
to Czechoslovakia.
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