Surprised by the identity of the top scorer at EURO 2024

Ricardo Calafiori is the first Italian player to score an own goal at a European Championship finals. Photo: UEFA

The EURO 2024 finals are nearing the end of the second round of group stage matches. Prior to the matches on the evening of June 22nd and the early morning of June 23rd (Vietnam time), 21 matches had already taken place across Germany.

Currently, 54 goals have been scored, averaging 2.57 goals per match. Only 1 out of 21 matches ended goalless (Netherlands drew 0-0 with France). In 13 matches, both teams scored.

In the race for the top scorer's goals, it's interesting that leading names and highly anticipated players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud, Robert Lewandowski, Romelu Lukaku, Memphis Depay, Patrick Schick, Rasmus Hojlund… have yet to put their names on the scoresheet.

Harry Kane, Kai Havertz, Alvaro Morata, Jude Bellingham, Niclas Fullkrug, and Luka Jovic all scored goals, but not all of them had convincing performances for their respective teams.

Currently, two players have scored two goals each: the young talent Jamal Musiala of the German national team and Ivan Schranz of Slovakia. They are tied for the top spot, but for fans, the leader is someone else entirely.

That opponent is known for its "own goals," with a total of 5 goals. Those goals were scored by Antonio Rudiger of Germany (against Scotland), Maximilian Wober of Austria (against France), Robin Hranac of the Czech Republic (against Portugal), Klaus Gjasula of Albania (against Croatia), and Ricardo Calafiori of Italy (against Spain).

Klaus Gjasula (8) is the first player to score and score an own goal after coming on as a substitute in a EURO tournament. Photo: UEFA

On social media, fans had some rather humorous reactions to the situation.

“'Own goals' is the best goalscorer in the history of the EUROs. He has won the Golden Boot in almost every tournament,” one person wrote.

"Go for an own goal!", another person commented.

Of course, this is just for fun and there's no Golden Boot for "own goals," but own goals do have some interesting statistics.

Among the aforementioned players, Calafiori became the first Italian player to score an own goal at a European Championship, while Gjasula was the first player to score and then score an own goal after coming on as a substitute at a European Championship.

Furthermore, the French national team has had two consecutive EURO tournaments where the first goal was scored by an opposing player (in 2020, Mats Hummels of Germany scored an own goal).

The opening match had an own goal, and the final match of the first round also had an own goal.

At EURO 2020, there were a total of 11 own goals (3 of which were scored by goalkeepers) - more than in all previous EUROs. With 5 own goals scored so far, could EURO 2024 break that record?

Source: https://laodong.vn/bong-da-quoc-te/bat-ngo-voi-danh-tinh-nhan-vat-ghi-ban-hang-dau-tai-euro-2024-1356334.ldo