Euro 2012 Man of the Day: Bastian Schweinsteiger

Gomez got the goals and grabbed the headlines against Holland last night, but his Bayern Munich colleague Bastian Schweinsteiger ran the show from midfield.

Logic suggests that we should be giving this award to Mario Gomez for his efforts against the Dutch last night. He scored two goals, both expertly taken we should add, and it was that brace that has all but secured the Germans' place in the quarter-finals.

But we’ve already given the award to Gomez and we were a little put off by the incredibly efficient statistic - even by German standards – that he has scored three goals in the tournament despite being in possession of the ball for only 22 seconds over two games. Seriously.

We’re not sure how long the quintessentially German Bastian Schweinsteiger (blonde hair, pointed features, no sense of humour... probably) has been in possession of the ball, but we can guarantee that it’s a damn sight longer than 22 seconds.

His absence for long periods had a detrimental effect on Bayern Munich’s season and even though it could be argued that he’s still not fully fit, he ran the show in Kharkiv last night.

Schweinsteiger didn’t do anything particularly spectacular, the best midfielders often don’t, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t effective. He provided the assist for Gomez’s opener but besides that, his control of the midfield was absolute and he made Holland’s Mark Van Bommel look utterly useless before he was pulled ashore at the break.

Due to a combination of the heat, humidity and the belated Dutch comeback Schweinsteiger tired somewhat towards the end, but he still found time to contribute towards the best effort at keeping the ball in the corner from any team we’ve ever seen in the dying minutes.

A little ponderous against Portugal in their opening game, the Germans looked like would-be winners of the tournament last night and it was Schweinsteiger who made them tick.

He’s today’s winner of our McCoy’s Man of the Day award and could be Man of the Tournament if he maintains such an impressive level of performance.