Injured Villa still leader of the pack
Thursday, June 26, 2008
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A first-half injury may have dashed David Villa's hopes of adding to his four goals at UEFA EURO 2008™ but he remains top of the scoring charts ahead of the final.
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A first-half injury may have dashed David Villa's hopes of adding to his four goals at UEFA EURO 2008™, but the Spain striker remains top of the scoring charts going into Sunday's final after closest rival Roman Pavlyuchenko failed to find the net in Vienna.
Opening hat-trick
Villa ignited Spain's campaign 16 days ago by plundering a hat-trick in their opening Group D victory against Russia, and swiftly added another to down Sweden and seal his country a spot in the quarter-finals. The 26-year-old has since failed to find the net against Italy and Russia, and will hope to be fit for Sunday's showpiece to ward off a potential challenge from a number of German players – not least Lukas Podolski.
Three for Podolski
Like Podolski, Hakan Yakin and Semih Şentürk also have three goals but they can not add to their hauls as Switzerland and Turkey have been eliminated. The Turkish fell at the semi-final stage on Wednesday, Miroslav Klose and Bastian Schweinsteiger scoring in a 3-2 success to join their captain Michael Ballack on two goals for the tournament. Spain's Daniel Güiza did likewise against Russia. David Healy of Northern Ireland was the leading scorer in qualifying having scored 13 times – including three in one match against Spain.
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