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Record-breaking Paco pulls clear

Paco's two semi-final goals for Spain against Turkey took him three clear at the top of the scorers' table in Liechtenstein with six and his overall tally of 14 has set a new competition record.

Paco celebrates his 14th goal of Spain's campaign, a new record
Paco celebrates his 14th goal of Spain's campaign, a new record ©Sportsfile

Spain striker Paco set a new record on Thursday night when he scored his 14th goal of their UEFA European Under-17 Championship campaign in the 3-1 semi-final defeat of Turkey in Vaduz.

Paco had only restored Spain's lead three minutes earlier when he converted a penalty, his sixth goal of the finals – three more than anyone else. Also the top scorer in qualifying with eight, Paco's total makes the Valencia CF forward the most prolific player since the U17 classification was introduced in 2001/02, beating the record of 13 set four years ago by Germany's Manuel Fischer.

Meanwhile, Paco's finals tally of six has already equalled the best since the showpiece stage was reduced to eight teams in 2002/03; the record of seven was set by Spain's Jonathan Soriano in the 16-nation 2001/02 edition. Paco can match or surpass that mark in the final against England on Sunday, but is already certain of finishing as top scorer unless opposing players Connor Wickham or Ross Barkley manage four goals. Turkey captain Artun Akçakin, unable to score in their loss to Spain, is second on the table with three.

2010 UEFA European Under-17 Championship finals top scorers
(
*team involved in final on Sunday)
PlayerTeamGoals
PacoSpain*6
Artun AkçakinTurkey3
Ross BarkleyEngland*2
Ricardo EsgaioPortugal2
GerardSpain*2
Anthony KouraFrance2
Paul PogbaFrance2
Yaya SanogoFrance2
Connor WickhamEngland*2

2009/10 UEFA European Under-17 Championship season top scorers
PlayerTeamGoals
PacoSpain*14
Dimitrios DiamantakosGreece
8
Benik Afobe
England*7
Stejpan Vuleta
Switzerland
7
Connor Wickham
England*
7
Artun AkçakinTurkey6
Tim VäyrynenFinland
6

UEFA European Under-17 Championship finals top scorers year by year
YearPlayerTeamGoals
2009Luc Castaignos
Lennart Thy
Netherlands
Germany
3
2008Yannis TaferFrance4
2007Toni Kroos
Victor Moses
Germany
England
3
2006Bojan Krkić
Manuel Fischer
Tomáš Necid
Spain
Germany
Czech Republic
5
2005Tevfik KöseTurkey6
2004Hatem Ben Arfa
Bruno Gama
Shane Paul
Marc Pedraza
France
Portugal
England
Spain
3
2003David RodríguezSpain6
2002Jonathan SorianoSpain7