The Golden Boot challenge for the tournament’s top scorer will be decided today, and England strikers Harry Kane (four goals) and Raheem Sterling (three) look like the two remaining players with a realistic chance. The current leaders are Patrick Schick and Cristiano Ronaldo, who both scored five goals before leaving Euro 2020.
But in reality, the tournament’s top scorer race has been over for weeks and his own goal won the match.
11 own goals were scored in Euro 2020, more than the combined total in the previous 15 editions of the European Championship.
own goals #Euro2020: 11th.
Own goals in Euros 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016, combined: 9.
— Nick Harris (@sportingintel) July 7, 2021
Unlucky goals. Strange targets. Slap on the forehead. They were scored by midfielders, defenders and goalkeepers.
In retrospect, the first goal of the tournament – being scored into Turkey’s net by one of Italy’s defenders, Merih Demiral – was probably an omen that we should all take more seriously.
This meant that it was the tournament’s first time he opened an account with an own goal scorer, but in the four weeks since that night, own goals have continued to come in. Spain took two wins in a 5-0 win over Slovakia and Portugal managed to score two goals on their own — only four minutes apart – They lost 4-2 to Germany.
Pedri’s, the opening goal of Spain’s memorable victory over Croatia in the last 16, could have been the worst of the bunch…
… but he had a solid competition for the title:
The latest, number 11 overall, even helped get Denmark to the semi-finals:
Will the finale get us a dozen? There is no hope. First, England would never have survived.