Only nine players have ever won the European Cup and European Championship in the same summer.
The first player to achieve this double triumph was Luis Suarez in 1964 who won the European Cup as his Inter Milan side beat Real Madrid before being part of the Spain squad who saw off the Soviet Union later that year.
In the coming week, Mason Mount, Recce James, Ben Chilwell, Andreas Christensen, Cesar Azpilicueta, and Jorginho have the opportunity to add their name to a list that includes former Chelsea players Fernando Torres and Juan Mata who claimed the European Championship in 2012 with Spain.
Despite featuring for Italy in the Euros, Emerson will be unable to add his name to the list even if Italy win their first European Championship since 1968 as he did not appear in the Champions League final.
With the four remaining sides all having players who could achieve this rare feat, it will mark a third consecutive championship that someone has claimed a European double with Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe winning the Champions League with Real Madrid and the Euros with Portugal in 2016.
It is remarkable to have every semi-finalist accounted for but it’s even more remarkable that all those players all play for the same club side.
England fans will be well aware of the talents of James, Chilwell and Mount although it is only the latter who has appeared consistently at the European Championships.
If the Gareth Southgate’s side did lift their first major trophy since 1966, the Chelsea trio would be the highest number of players from a single club to do so since Hans van Breukelen, Ronald Koeman, Berry van Aerle, Gerald Vanenburg (PSV Eindhoven & Netherlands) claimed the double in 1988.
Once seen by some as just a regular in the Chelsea team due to his relationship with Frank Lampard who was also his manager at Derby County in 2018/19 but it shows his talent that Gareth Southgate sees him as integral at international level as well as current Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel.
The 22-year-old has started three of England’s five matches at the championships, only missing the Scotland match due to breaching covid protocol.
During Chelsea’s successful Champions League run, the Portsmouth-born midfielder impressed in the biggest games, scoring his first European goal against Porto in the quarter-finals, homeand away against Real Madrid in the last four before assisting Kai Havertz’s winner in the finalover Manchester City.
Recce James and Ben Chilwell have been competing for places on opposite flanks for England but both have found their opportunities limited with the former only starting one match, against Scotland and the latter having yet to feature, missing the Scotland game alongside Mount due to self-isolation and not even being included in the squad for the Germany match.
The two fullbacks are relatively inexperienced at senior international level with Chilwell making 14 appearances since his debut in 2018, while James has featured seven times since his 2020 bow, although both have played at all the age groups levels from Under 18s.
At club level they both impressed during Chelsea’s run to the final in Porto, Chilwell scoring an important second goal in injury-time against Porto with both players a key part of a defence that kept nine clean sheets in Europe, conceding just four goals.
Only on five occasions did both the Englishmen start for Tuchel during their European success but they ably played as full-backs and wing-backs as the German switched between a 4-3-3 and 3-4-1-2 formation.
England’s opponents in their European Championship semi-final will be Denmark and Andreas Christensen is the Scandinavians sole Chelsea representative.
The 25-year-old is a key member of an impressive outfit managed by Kasper Hjulmand who had overcome the distressing incident with Christian Eriksen in their opening match to become dark horses of the tournament hoping to emulate the 1992 heroes.
Christensen has previous major tournament experience during his 46 caps having been a part of the 2018 World Cup squad, helping his country reach the last 16.
Although they lost their opening two matches, Christensen impressed particularly against Belgium where he kept Romelu Lukaku relatively quiet and the vital win against Russia which secured an unlikely place in the last 16.
The 4-1 thrashing saw Denmark become the first team to qualify for the knockout rounds after losing their first two games with Christensen making a vital contribution by firing a 25-yard screamer past Russian goalkeeper Matvei Safonov to give his side a 3-1 lead just minutes after the visitors had halved the deficit.
His versatility has been evident throughout the tournament as he has played as a centre-back in a four-man defence and a right centre-back in a three-man rearguard as well as defensive midfield due to his ability on the ball with fans labelling him the ‘Danish Maldini’.
Although only making seven appearances in the Champions League, Christensen began both legs of the semi-final against Real Madrid as well as away wins over Atletico Madrid and Porto in the last 16 and quarter-final.
Although originally named as a substitute in the final due to Thiago Silva’s return from injury, he had one of his best matches in the final when coming on for the injured Silva shortly before half-time as he helped restrict Manchester City to just a single shot on target.
His impact in arguably the biggest match of his career could prove to be an important moment in his Chelsea career which had seemed at a crossroads in 2019 under Maurizio Sarri when he had made just eight league appearances.
Even last season he made just 17 appearances under Lampard and Tuchel and with Thiago Silva staying at Stamford Bridge for another league, opportunities may be limited again but learning of one of the world’s best centre-backs will prove invaluable for Christensen.
However, if he uses the experience of Silva, he could develop his game even further and become one of Chelsea’s starting centre-backs in the coming seasons.
One of Chelsea’s most experienced players Cesar Azpilicueta followed another Chelsea legend, Frank Lampard, in leading the club to Champions League glory and will be hoping to lift another trophy with Spain on Sunday.
His experience proved invaluable in the competition with the 31-year-old playing in all but one of their European games and a total of 964 minutes in their 12 matches.
With more than 400 appearances for the club and over 100 as captain, a consistent performer at right-back or centre-back Azpilicueta is popular with fans and players alike.
For the national team, he will be looking to win his first major trophy with Spain after missing out on the successful World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012 squads.
He can lean on his age-groups success at international level however, as he was part of the under-19 team in 2007 and the under-21 side in 2011 to win the European Championships.
Although he was not included by Luis Enrique for their first two matches, he returned to the starting line-up for the crucial match against Slovakia and helped keep a clean sheet to secure Spain’s passage into the last 16 and kept his place for matches against Croatia and Switzerland.
The tournament has already seen a personal achievement for Azpilicueta as he scored his first
senior international goal against Croatia in the round of 16.
The final players that could complete an impressive double are the Italy duo Jorginho and Emerson although they have had differing tournaments.
Brazilian-born Jorginho made his name in Italian football, most notably at Napoli and has become a vital member of the international set-up since Roberto Mancini took charge in 2018.
Having moved to Italy at the age of 15, the 29-year-old holds both Brazilian and Italian citizenship but despite his performances for Napoli, was never considered for selection by the country of his birth.
In his first major tournament for Italy, Jorginho has shown his considerable talent and importance for Mancini in his five matches so far with a passing accuracy of 95.2%, completing 371 of 391 passes.
Part of an impressive midfield triumvirate alongside Nicolo Barella and either Manuel Locatelli or
Marco Veratti, Jorginho’s metronomic passing allows Italy to recycle possession and control the
match.
He was also a key midfielder for Frank Lampard and Thomas Tuchel in the Champions League, starting all but one of the matches as he showed why Maurizo Sarri was so keen on bringing the midfielder joining him at Stamford Bridge from Napoli.
While everyone connected with England would like nothing more than the national side ending 55 barren years, Chelsea fans can be forgiven for having an interest in all camps with this impressive scenario for the club.
