Statistics highlight EURO experience

There has been some great football on show at UEFA EURO 2008™ and ahead of the tournament's showpiece, the statistics offer a glimpse behind the many memorable moments.

Goals, goals, goals
The 30 games played so far have produced 76 goals including four penalties but not a single own goal. Spain have been the most prolific scorers with eleven from their five outings but the Netherlands had the best goals-per-game ratio (2.5). Austria, France, Greece, Poland and Romania each registered only once. Croatia had the most miserly defence, their rearguard breached just twice in four games, while in terms of goals conceded per game, the Czech Republic and France had the leakiest back lines as they shipped six each in the group stage and this after both kept clean sheets in their opening fixtures. Xavi Hernández's strike against Russia in the semi-final was the 500th UEFA European Championship finals goal.

Club representation
In terms of clubs, FC Bayern München players have been doing most damage with eight goals (Lukas Podolski contributing three), followed by Real Madrid CF with six. However, none of those strikes were scored by Spanish players, as Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wesley Sneijder struck two each and Arjen Robben and Pepe one apiece. Yet Spain does lead the way as regards to where goalscorers play their club football. Twenty goals have come from Primera División performers, followed by Germany (13) and England (eight). Of the 16 participating countries, three have no EURO goalscorer playing in their domestic league: Sweden, Greece and Romania.

Shots, saves and passes
Those goals came from the 875 shots – 334 on target – that have been hit so far. Spain have been the most attacking team from this point of view with 104 efforts (20.8 per match on average) eclipsing final opponents Germany's total of 58 (11.6 average). Spain have also strung together the most passes, making 3,014 out of the 28,153 so far completed in the tournament and are also highly ranked in terms of ball possession (54.6 per cent) although Portugal (55.5 per cent) lead that category.

Whistle-blowers
Turkey committed the most fouls with 102 and had the second-highest average per game (20.4) trailing only Poland in that regard (22.33) while Germany have shown the most discipline (14.2). Turkey also led the way in terms of bookings (16) contributing to the three outfield players they had banned for their semi-final with Germany. Goalkeeper Volkan Demirel also missed that game through suspension having been sent off against the Czech Republic – one of only three dismissals at the tournament along with Bastian Schweinsteiger and Eric Abidal.