Absent Villa takes scoring prize

Spain striker David Villa has been crowned top scorer at UEFA EURO 2008™ despite missing the final because of a thigh injury.

Four-goal flurry
Villa scored four goals in Spain's first two games in Austria – three against Russia and one against Sweden – making him the first player to hit a UEFA European Championship finals hat-trick since 2000, and only the seventh overall. The 26-year-old Valencia CF forward was unable to add to that tally, but nevertheless finished one goal clear of Germany's Lukas Podolski, Roman Pavlyuchenko of Russia, Switzerland's Hakan Yakin and Semih Şentürk of Turkey. Twelve players registered two goals each, including Villa's team-mates Daniel Güiza and final hero Fernando Torres, plus Germany trio Michael Ballack, Miroslav Klose and Bastian Schweinsteiger.

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