Euro 2024 will not feature Europe's best striker. Who else is missing?

Guardians and Defenders: Exhale.

Europe's most feared striker will not take part in the European Championship.

That's because Erling Haaland's Norway didn't qualify.

Haaland's goalscoring statistics with club and country are staggering: 90 goals in 98 matches in all competitions in two seasons with Manchester City and 30 in 32 matches for Norway since his national team debut in 2019.

But Halaand scored “only” five goals in six qualifying matches for Norway, who finished third in Group A behind Spain and Scotland and didn't even reach the playoffs.

Norway's absence also means that Arsenal and Norwegian captain Martin Odegaard will not participate in the tournament in Germany.

Norway won just three of eight qualifiers and finished six points behind second-placed Scotland.

A look at some other big players who won't be at Euro 2024, which starts on Friday:

THIBAUT COURTOIS

Thibaut Courtois was healthy enough to make two key saves in the first half of the Champions League final and help Real Madrid win another title.

But the Belgian goalkeeper announced in December that he would miss the Euros and has not backed down from his decision despite returning to full fitness for Madrid after a long-term knee injury.

There's also this: There are ongoing tensions between Courtois and Belgian coach Domenico Tedesco.

Courtois questioned Tedesco's “reality” after the coach accused him of abandoning his teammates and faking an injury before a qualifying match last year.

Without the Madrid goalkeeper, Tedesco's choices in goal are: Matz Sels (Nottingham Forest), Koen Casteels (Wolfsburg) and Thomas Kaminski (Luton).

Karim Benzema

Benzema retired from the France team the day after the “Blues” lost in the 2022 World Cup final without the striker.

Then last year he left Real Madrid for Saudi club Al-Ittihad and now, at 36, his days at the top appear to be over.

Benzema was awarded the Ballon d'Or as the world's best player in 2022, but then missed the World Cup in Qatar that year after tearing a muscle in his left thigh during pre-tournament training. tournament.

He also did not feature in France's victorious 2018 World Cup campaign, as he was still exiled from the national team for his alleged role in a sex tape scandal with teammate Mathieu Valbuena.

French coach Didier Deschamps has plenty of options without Benzema, led by captain Kylian Mbappé. Other French strikers include Bradley Barcola, Kingsley Coman, Ousmane Dembélé, Olivier Giroud, Randal Kolo Muani and Marcus Thuram.

Two other former French starters missing are midfielder Paul Pogba, who is serving a ban for doping, and defender Lucas Hernandez, who recently underwent surgery after rupturing his left ACL.

MARCUS RASHFORD

The Manchester United striker paid the price for a disappointing season at club level and failed to make England manager Gareth Southgate's initial 33-man squad.

Rashford has scored just eight goals for a United side who suffered their worst ever finish in the Premier League – eighth.

The omission comes just two seasons after Rashford enjoyed his career-best campaign, scoring 34 goals for club and country.

Jack Grealish, Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson – who all played in the final when England lost to Italy on penalties in 2021 – were also left out by Southgate.

“Those are tough calls, you're talking about players who are very good players, who have played a big part in what we've done,” Southgate said. “With Marcus, I feel like players in the same area of ​​the pitch have had better seasons, it’s as simple as that.”

HUMMELS CARPET

Reaching the Champions League final wasn't enough for Mats Hummels to make the host Germany squad.

Hummels made a strong case for inclusion with his inspiring performances during Borussia Dortmund's European run. But Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann said there were “1,000 elements” in the decision not to include the veteran defender. Nagelsmann considers Real Madrid's Antonio Rüdiger and Bayer Leverkusen's Jonathan Tah his favorite central defensive duo – and anyone else would have to settle for a backup role.

Dortmund defender Nico Schlotterbeck is obviously happy to play the reserve role and has made the squad.

Bayern Munich midfielder Leon Goretzka has also been ruled out, despite a strong end to the Bundesliga season.

SANDRO TONALI

Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali is serving a 10-month ban for betting on teams he played for, ruling him out of consideration for reigning champions Italy.

That leaves coach Luciano Spalletti without his first choice at playmaker, but opens up space for Jorginho and Lorenzo Pellegrini.

Tonali looked set to inherit the role that once belonged to Andrea Pirlo in setting the tone and directing the Italian team's attack.

Several other Italian players are injured: Domenico Berardi, Nicolò Zaniolo, Francesco Acerbi and Giorgio Scalvini.

___

AP Football: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer