Baroš unlikely to be beaten
Sunday, July 4, 2004
Article summary
Only a miraculous individual performance in the final will stop Milan Baroš finishing as the top scorer but Portugal could yet be the highest-scoring team.
Article body
Below Baroš
Baroš has five goals in the tournament while the leading scorers in the two final teams have only two - namely, Portugal's Maniche, Cristiano Ronaldo and Rui Costa, and Greece forward Angelos Charisteas. Portugal can still end the competition as the highest-scoring team, however.
Low-scoring
Luiz Felipe Scolari's side have hit eight goals in five matches, two fewer than both the Czech Republic and England. Greece, meanwhile, have scored six goals in five games and are the lowest-scoring team to reach a UEFA European Championship final since the Czech Republic in 1996.
More goals in 2000
So far 76 goals have been scored in 30 matches in Portugal, at a rate of 2.53 goals per game. More goals were scored at UEFA EURO 2000™ - 85 in 31 matches (2.74 per game) - but there were fewer at EURO '96™, the first time that 16 teams competed in the final round. The 31 matches that year produced 64 goals (2.06 per game).
Top scorers
Baroš's five goals equal the total with which England's Alan Shearer took the top scorer's award in 1996. In 2000 it was the Netherlands' Patrick Kluivert and Yugoslavia striker Savo Milosevic who shared the prize, again with five apiece. Michel Platini holds the competition record, having found the net nine times when France won the 1984 title.
