Euro 2016 kicks off with LaLiga stars taking centre stage

Today, Friday 10 June, hosts France will get the ball rolling against Romania at 21:00 CET in a European Championships that will feature 34 players from LaLiga, spread across 12 different national teams.

There are many favourites to win the tournament, such as France, Germany, England and holders Spain, but other sides such as Portugal, Croatia and Italy will be looking to spring a surprise and take the trophy home with them.

The Spanish national team are going to France with the aim of retaining the title they won after beating Italy in the final of the 2012 edition. Their journey begins next Monday, 13 June at 15:00 against a tough Czech Republic side. As well as the Czechs, Spain find themselves pitted against Croatia and Turkey in Group D. There are a total of 12 LaLiga representatives in the Spain squad: Sergio Ramos, Juanfran, Jordi Alba, Gerard Pique, Koke, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Lucas Vazquez, Bruno Soriano, Sergio Rico, Mikel San Jose and Aritz Aduriz.

An attack-minded XI made up of #LaLiga players called up for #EURO2016

How far do you think they would get? pic.twitter.com/xNjkbeFmOw

— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) June 9, 2016

Croatia, one of Spain’s opponents in Group D, have called up four players who ply their trade in the Spanish top flight. Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic, Duje Cop and Mateo Kovacic are among the Croats who will try to defeat Vicente del Bosque’s men on 21 June.

Germany and Portugal are two sides heading to France eager to show the world their strengths, as the Germans did by winning the last World Cup in Brazil. Both teams have three LaLiga players in their ranks: for Germany, Toni Kroos, Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Shkodran Mustafi, and for Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe and Andre Gomes.

The French, with a squad featuring Antoine Griezmann and Adil Rami, hope to have a big say in the tournament as hosts. In their group they face Romania, who have two players from LaLiga in their squad – Florin Andone and Razvan Rat. The other LaLiga stars looking to show their worth at Euro 2016 are Belgium’s Yannick Ferreira Carrasco and Thomas Vermaelen, Turkey’s Arda Turan, Sweden’s John Guidetti, Wales’s Gareth Bale, Poland’s Grzegorz Krychowiak and Ukraine’s Yevhen Konoplyanka.