Euro 2020 pre tournament friendly matches: Benzema injured in win over Bulgaria

The Euro 2020 is set to start on June 11 and the teams look all set to compete at the big stage. Before the start of the tournament, all the teams have been preparing themselves by playing International friendlies. With most of the teams having completed their practice matches the stage is now set for the countries to battle it out and reign supreme in Europe. Here are the latest Euro 2020 pre tournament friendly matches results, squad news and all the information about the start of the tournament.

Euro 2020 start date 

Italy vs Turkey

Euro 2020 will commence on June 11 and the inaugural match will be played between Italy and Turkey in Rome. The game is scheduled to start at 9:00 PM local time [Saturday, June 12 at 12:30 AM IST]. The stakes are high for Italy as they have a very strong side and come into the tournament on the back of amazing performances in the friendlies. Turkey have also played well and come into the tournament having won their friendly matches against Moldova.

France squad news 

Karim Benzema limped off the pitch in the first half against Bulgaria. France won the game but are now faced with a major concern as they meet  Germany in less than a week. Didier Deschamps later confirmed that the Real Madrid striker has taken a hit to the knee and it will require further assessment to diagnose the problem. Benzema was replaced by Olivier Giroud in the 41st minute and the striker went in and scored 2 goals and sealed the win for the French. Giroud has proven to be great for France and was also a key member of the World Cup-winning team. Benzema's injury will be a big hit for France as they were prepared to pair him up with Kylian Mbappe up front which would be a deadly combination to handle.

Spain squad news

Spain are faced with a major problem ahead of their European campaign. Captain Sergio Busquets was found Covid positive which meant that the entire team would have to self isolate ahead of their friendly match against Lithuania which had to be later rescheduled. After Busquets, Diego Llorente has now tested positive for Covid which means that even he would be inevitably out for Spain's opening game against Sweden. Spanish head coach, Luis Enrique, has decided to set up a separate bubble in the wake of the increasing cases in the team and will be training the standby team there. Kepa Arrizabalaga, Pablo Fornals and Raul Albiol have all been called up to train with the Spanish team as standby players ahead of the Euros.

Euro 2020 pre-tournament friendly matches results

Andorra 0-0 Gibraltar 

Faroe Islands 5-1 Liechtenstein

Germany 7-1 Latvia

Kosovo 1-2 Guinea 

Cameroon 0-0 Nigeria

Poland 2-2 Iceland

Hungary 0-0 Ireland

Czech Republic 3-1 Albania

France 3-0 Bulgaria

Picture Credits: Sergio Busquets, Karim Benzema/Twitter