Postiga joins EURO 'hat-trick' club

Hélder Postiga joined an exclusive, if growing, club of players when he found the net in Portugal's 3-2 victory against Denmark.

Postiga joined Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimović in achieving the feat of scoring in three different UEFA European Championships during the current tournament in Poland and Ukraine – something managed by only four other players previously. Ibrahimović completed his own 'hat-trick' in Sweden's 2-1 loss to Ukraine on Monday.

As a 21-year-old at UEFA EURO 2004, Postiga came off the bench to force extra time with a late headed equaliser in Portugal's eventual quarter-final win against England. Four years later, he struck again as a substitute – and again with his head – at the same quarter-final stage, but this time Portugal succumbed to Germany.

The 29-year-old, now with Spanish club Real Zaragoza, completed his tournament treble with a near-post conversion of Nani's cross to put Portugal 2-0 up in a game they eventually won 3-2.

Ibrahimović opened his EURO account against Bulgaria in a 5-0 group stage win at UEFA EURO 2004 and in the same tournament scored a famous back-heeled volley in a 1-1 draw with Italy. The Sweden captain was on target twice in the same stage in 2008, in a 2-0 victory against Greece and a 2-1 loss to Spain.

The other four players are:
Jürgen Klinsmann, Germany
1988 v Denmark
1992 v Netherlands
1996 v Russia (2), Croatia

Vladimír Šmicer, Czech Republic
1996 v Russia
2000 v Denmark (2)
2004 v Netherlands

Nuno Gomes, Portugal
2000 v England, Turkey (2), France
2004 v Spain
2008 v Germany

Thierry Henry, France
2000 v Denmark, Czech Republic, Portugal
2004 v Switzerland (2)
2008 v Netherlands