Sure, major tournament group stages are fun. You know, the three kick-offs a day, endless football and excuses to not move off the couch vibes. Football fever.

But what we lose in endless games in the knockout stages, we gain in increased drama. The stakes are immensely higher, the football is endlessly more intense and every player is put to the sword with emotions running wild.

90min has worked back through the history of the Euros and selected 30 of the greatest games to take place throughout the knockout stages. Feel free to reminisce without the emotionally charged anxiety.

Not immediately the hottest of the barnburners, Portugal edged beyond Poland on penalties in their winning Euro 2016 run.

More importantly, this was the coming out party for a young Renato Sanches, who kicked his tournament hype to new levels by scoring a peach of a goal with his left foot. Iconic.

Penalties are a weird one. They can often mask 120 minutes of rather dull football and make it a suddenly memorable contest.

Andrea Pirlo did exactly that in the Euro 2012 last 16, when his effortless Panenka beyond an animated Joe Hart sent England fans home with tears and Hart home with humble pie all over his kit.

Boring game, or just two sides so unbelievably talented that 120 minutes of football isn’t enough? The latter. Obviously.

Penalties were needed in a heavyweight Euro 2016 quarter final, where the Italians failed to repeat the exploits of their Euro 2012 triumph against England and crashed out at 6-5. Seven penalties were missed in the course of finding a winner. Seven.

Having scraped through to the last four on penalties, Germany’s luck ran out against France.

Antoine Griezmann came to life at Euro 2016 and a double in the semi-final was enough to get rid of the current world champions. Warm weather, hotline bling celebration. Life was good.

9-8 on penalties. Nine eight. Make this a regular fixture of the football.

An extraordinary penalty shootout saw Czechoslovakia just about get the better of Dino Zoff after nine scored spot kicks and clinch third place at Euro 1980. Silly numbers.

They couldn’t actually do it, could they?

The game that kickstarted the belief and fuelled the fire, Greece dumped France out of Euro 2004 in the quarter finals. Outplaying Les Bleus was topped off by a bullet header from Angelos Charisteas.

Italy became the biggest babyface in sport when they knocked out the mighty but fading Spain in the last 16.

Payback for being completely demolished in the final four years earlier, it did ultimately take a goal from Pelle to get over the line. No, not that one.

It took some doing, but world champions France edged beyond Portugal at the death of the Euro 2000 semi final.

Portugal had drawn level with Les Bleus, but a Zinedine Zidane penalty three minutes from the end of extra time saw France steal a route into the final. Denied viewers of some pretty inevitable penalties though, so minus points.

France humbling Iceland in the Euro 2016 quarter final didn’t do any harm to Iceland; it just further damaged England.

Iceland had knocked out the Three Lions in the last 16 and looked set for a fairytale run, but a ruthless French side picked them off for fun. Thanks for coming.

Apologies, had to go in – box office drama and emotion. It was coming home.

Gareth Southgate failed to score from the spot as penalties saw Germany head to the final of Euro 96. He’s alright though, is Gareth. Redeemed himself as England manager.

90s football at its very peak. Two obscenely good kits, cult heroes on one side and some of football’s greatest and biggest names on the other.

Top it off with a penalty shootout win for the underdogs and that’s a recipe for success. Peter Schmeichel denied Marco van Basten as the Danes did the unthinkable and reached the final.

Revenge is sweet.

20 years on and a few geographical changes later, Germany won Euro 1996 in the greatest fashion possible. With the game in extra time following a 1-1 tie, Oliver Bierhoff secured the trophy with the golden goal in the 95th minute. Bring it back you cowards.

Some serious pub quiz knowledge, this one.

The Netherlands‘ last 16 thrashing of Yugoslavia would be the nation’s final appearance at a major tournament before it’s collapse. Total football and the brilliance of Patrick Kluivert sent Yugoslavia packing one last time.

Who said modern football was rubbish?

The nostalgia glasses are off; Euro 2020 threw up a fine round of 16 clash when Croatia vs Spain went truly bonkers. After Spain went ahead with a 3-1 lead, Croatia forced the game to extra time with two very late goals. End to end stuff followed, before Spain drew away and bagged another two. Even Alvaro Morata scored.

The Panenka origin.

Four goals wasn’t enough to decipher a winner in the Euro 1976 despite 120 minutes of football. When Uli Hoeness missed his penalty for West Germany, Czechoslovakia capitalised. Antonin Panenka would step up for the decisive penalty, dinking it over Sepp Maier to win the tournament. Ice in his veins.

When Giorgos Samaras pulled Greece level in the quarter final, there was genuine hope of an upset.

But no. Germany just had to be the spoil sport and deny the neutrals of an underdog story, burying teams with their big golden shovel. A barrage of goals saw Greece booted out despite the buzz.

Not so big and clever now are you, Germany?

The Mario Balotelli show was on in front of the world as the striker bagged a brace to send Italy to the final in a heavyweight clash. His iconic flex celebration of course complimented the occasion. Good football, that.

Having impressed at every stage so far and rocking up with a seriously star studded team that featured Luis Figo, Nuno Gomes and a young Cristiano Ronaldo, surely they had to win.

Nope. The magic of tournament football struck, and Angelos Charisteas spoiled a Portuguese party in Lisbon. Greece shocked the world and gave sport one of its greatest stories.

A last minute winner from Philipp Lahm of all people was the difference as Turkey took Germany to the very edge of the sword in the Euro 2008.

Ugur Boral’s opener was cancelled out by a bleach blonde Bastian Schweinsteiger, and despite Miroslav Klose’s best efforts, Turkey bounced back again. Turkey were agonisingly close to the tournament final.

Before their eventual final heartbreak, the resilience and star power of Portugal was on show as they edged beyond a star-studded England side on penalties.

Heartbreak for an immensely talented Three Lions side, who managed to bag twice and still not advance beyond the quarter final.

Drama of the highest order, this is tournament football at its best.

Having only been crowned world champions two (well, three) years earlier, France were the overwhelming favourite for Euro 2020 with such a stacked squad. A late comeback from Switzerland forced France to extra time and penalties, where they capitulated and were dumped out against the odds. Speechless last 16 stuff.

The most comprehensive and subsequently frightening final of all time.

Spain were literally unbeatable and had a squad that passed their way through anything. A fine Italy side looked amateur as the Spaniards danced around them and racked up four goals against an Italian defence. This should not happen, ever. Glitch in the matrix.

Dancing into a shock 2-0 lead against an obscenely good West Germany, Yugoslavia looked to be in cruise control in the first half.

Die Mannschaft clawed back, though, and a Gerd Muller equaliser took the game to extra time. 30 minutes was the perfect window for Muller to bag twice more and score a hat-trick to win the tournament in comeback fashion.

The first time Wales had ever qualified for the finals of the European Championships, they entered with vengeance.

Chris Coleman’s fearless side defied the odds and made their way to the semi-final, dispatching of Belgium’s golden generation in the quarter final. A free agent Hal Robson-Kanu turned into prime Maradona to set them on their way.

Not one widely remembered, but deserving of its spot. A properly bizarre semi-final which remains the highest scoring in Euros knockout history to date.

Three goals in five minutes highlighted the flair and ability within the Yugoslavian side, and catapulted them into the final beyond the hosts in a big upset.

A semi-final that had it all.

Jean-Francois Domergue bagged a stupidly powerful free-kick for the first of his two goals, but neither side could win inside 90 minutes. It took until the last minute of extra time for Michel Platini to pop up and score a third goal in extra time, the winner that sent France to the final.

The fairytale ending that every neutral wanted was achieved.

Having not even meant to be at the tournament, Denmark did the unthinkable and went all the way to win the lot. Better yet, it was Kim Vilfort who secured the win, having returned to the tournament despite his daughter being seriously ill. Who’s chopping onions?

The gritty, efficient yet brute-ish set up of the USSR versus the side that make football an artform.

Having edged past West Germany, the Netherlands put total football to use and broke down a resilient yet star-studded USSR to become European champions.

The greatest use of golden goal ever.

Sylvain Wiltord gave France a lifeline in the last kick of injury time to draw them level and send the game to extra time. With the golden goal rule active, it was David Trezeguet who popped up after 103 minutes and win back-to-back major tournaments for Les Bleus. An astonishing comeback.

The greatest Euros game of all time, one of football’s greatest clashes ever. A clinic for the game.

Two ridiculously star-studded sides at the peak of their powers met in the Euro 88 semi-final. Klinsmann, Voller, Matthaus on one side, Van Basten, Gullit and Rijkaard on the other. The difference between the two sides was a genuine moment of wizardry from Van Basten, who won the game with that volley.