Only one former Bolton player was left at the Euros as we reached the last eight of the tournament
Eidur Gudjohnsen
And then there was one. Eidur Gudjohnsen has been quite frankly, a bit part player at Euro 2016. Despite his fame and status, it is fair to say he is getting on. He’ll be 40 years old soon.
Eidur had retired from international football once before. But last year, with Iceland going unprecedentally well in their qualifying group and the striker enjoying something of an Indian summer during his second spell with Wanderers, he made a comeback for his country, even scoring against Kazakhstan.
With the financial pressures at the Macron well documented, his stay wasn’t any longer than six months. He briefly spent time in China and is now playing his club football for Molde in the Norwegian Tippeligaen.
But he was included in the squad for Euro 2016. He got a few minutes here and there. Iceland exceeded all expectations by getting to the quarter finals. Ultimately, it was a step too much. After knocking out England and getting through the group stage unbeaten, hosts France dismantled them tonight.
Gudjohnsen came on with Iceland 5-1 down in the last few minutes. This was probably the last the world would see of him on a major stage, and he would leave one final mark, crossing to set up Birkir Bjarnason, who scored to pull it back to 5-2 and ‘win’ the second half.
It’s a shame he couldn’t get a goal, but at least a player who had the quality to play at the highest level did get a taste of an international tournament eventually.