The Underrated Players who became EURO Top Scorer

 

A number of top scorers in EURO history were not exactly favourites to win Golden Boot awards.

The Golden Boot Award, or the accolade for top scorer, is one of the most prestigious individual awards in any competition, at both the club and international stage. Such is no different in EURO. As one of the major international tournaments, winning such an award is remarkable, especially for strikers.

In the tournament’s history, several underrated players managed to be the top scorers. One of whom was not even a frontman but a central midfielder. Here are those unlikely names who won UEFA EURO’s Golden Boot awards. 

Klaus Allofs (1980)

The underrated top scorer had already emerged in the first edition with tournament format, replacing the final four, EURO 1980. The Golden Boot winner was the unlikely Klaus Allofs. He was still 24 years old and playing for the Bundesliga's non-elite side, Fortuna Dusseldorf, which only finished 10^th in the standings that season. Aloffs was obviously not considered one of the top scoring candidates in the tournament.

Other famous names include Hamburg’s star Kevin Keegan, West Germany’s main striker, Horst Hrubesch, Karl Heinz Rumminiege, Spain’s prolific goalscorer in the 1980s, Quini, or even Belgium’s towering attacking midfielder, Jan Cuelemans. The result was absolutely unexpected, as it was Aloffs who went on to receive the accolade.

The former FC Koln man only bagged three goals in the competition without making any assists. His only goals came in the second match against the Netherlands. Die Mannschaft crushed De Oranje 3-2 with his hattrick. In total, he hit the pitch three times, including in the final, and was sidelined in the third game of the group stage versus Greece. 

Aloffs still played regularly in major tournaments such as EURO 1984 and the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He only missed the final squad at the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Overall, the Dusseldort-born striker was capped 56 times and scored 17 goals plus provided nine assists in the international fixtures. 

Henrik Larsen (1992)

The former Danish international was an anomaly in the history of the EURO Golden Boot since he was the only top scorer whose position was not forward. Scoring three goals in the tournament, he shared the award with more famous names such as Sweden’s Tomas Brolin, the Netherlands' Dennis Bergkamp, and Germany’s Karl Heinz Riedl. At that time, such an accolade was given to all players who were at the top of the goalscoring list without considering the number of assists or total length of playing time, should there be more than one name on the list.

All of them were, as a matter of fact, not favourites for the top scorer awards. Fans were expecting some more established names, such as Marco Van Basten, Jurgen Klinsmann, Gary Lineker, Rudi Voeller, Jean Pierre Papin, Eric Cantona, or even Brian Laudrup.

Henrik Larsen was definitely the least favourite, as no one had ever heard his name before and would remember him today. The former Pisa man was stillpart of the Danish national team when they competed in EURO 1996. He was the key man under Richard Moeller Nielsen but failed to help them go through the next stage. Overall, he was capped 36 times and bagged five goals.

His career at the club level, especially abroad, was not exactly memorable. He had a brief stint at Aston Villa, which he joined in January 1993, but could not make the first team. Thus, he mainly spent his days with the reserve team before switching to Germany. Larsen only played regularly for lower-table teams such as Italy’s Pisa, which was relegated to Serie B in 1991, and Bundesliga 2 side Waldhof Mannheim.

Savo Milosevic (EURO 2000)

The former Yugoslavian forward was one of the underrated names to win the Golden Boot in EURO 2000. He was a famous forward playing for Real Zaragoza at the time, but Milosevic was not among the favorites. The likes of Francesco Totti, Raul Gonzales, Thierry Henry, Luis Figo, Alan Shearer, Michael Owen, and Patrick Kluivert were more expected. Only the last one eventually shared the award with the former Aston Villa man. They both scored five goals, although he would have been named the top scorer as his team only reached the quarterfinals compared to Kluivert, who brought Holland to the semifinals.

The current Bosnia national team had a number of stints in several top leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, and Italian Serie A, before ending his career in the Russian Premier League. Milosevic spent the longest in Spain, staying for ten years and playing for four clubs: Real Zaragoza, Espanyol, Celta Vigo, and Osasuna.

Milan Baros (EURO 2004)

The former Czech international was an unlikely top scorer in EURO 2004 since he was certainly not a favourite among the top names such as Ruud Van Nilsterooy, Thierry Henry, Michael Owen, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and young Cristiano Ronaldo. Baros did not only bag five times and provide two assists, but he also helped the Eastern European side advance to the final four before losing 1-0 to Greece through a silver goal.

The former Liverpool and Aston Villa man did not have an impressive spell in England, despite helping the Reds snatch the Champions League in 2005. He had better in Turkey and his own home soil when he was part of Galatasaray and had four spells with his first professional club, Banik Ostrava. Baros’s proneness to injuries and lack of physical fitness were two of the reasons he failed to thrive in the top leagues.

Fernando Torres (EURO 2012)

The striker nicknamed ‘El Nino’ was probably one of the best in his prime before the 2010s. Yet, after plying his trade to Chelsea, Torres’s goalscoring record soon began to decline. He was no longer the quick frontman with eyes for goals. The former Atletico Madrid and Liverpool man was even bullied for his frequent habits of spurning opportunities in the six-yard box.

Thus, none expected him to be the top scorer in EURO 2012, as he was not even the first choice in the team, unlike in the previous edition. Yet, Torres proved that he was the big game and tournament specialist by scoring three goals and one assist, including one goal plus setting up one in the final. In terms of number of goals, he did share it with the favourites, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mario Ballotelli, Mario Gomez, Russia’s Alan Dzagoev, and Croatian forward Mario Mandzukic. The former striker, who ended his career in Japan, deserved the accolade for playing the fewest minutes.