Six of the best: Euro 2024 Golden Boot shared as Kane and Olmo fail to score in final

The Golden Boot at Euro 2024 was shared between six players as both Harry Kane and Dani Olmo missed the chance to claim the award outright in Sunday’s final.

Neither Kane nor Olmo were on the scoresheet as Spain edged out England for a deserved 2-1 victory in Berlin, with Mikel Oyarzabal stepping off the bench to net a late winner.

Nico Williams had earlier put Spain ahead with his second goal of the tournament, before England substitute Cole Palmer found the bottom-left corner with a measured 73rd-minute finish.

A number of big names including Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo fell short in Germany, allowing a few outsiders to nab a share of the honours.

Here, we run through the best facts around each of the six joint-victors.

Dani Olmo

Had UEFA opted to break the six-way tie with assists, Olmo would have emerged victorious outright after teeing up two goals to go with the three he netted.

He also saved Spain in the latter stages of Sunday’s final with an excellent goal-line clearance to deny Marc Guehi a dramatic equaliser.

Given the key role he has come to play, it is easy to forget Olmo only started one of Spain’s three group matches and was a substitute in the knockout wins over Germany and Georgia.

Harry Kane

Kane endured a disappointing tournament overall, being withdrawn in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final despite all of those matches being in the balance for England – something that would have been unthinkable in competitions gone by.

Two of Kane’s goals did come at crucial points in knockout matches against Slovakia and the Netherlands, though, and his nine knockout goals at major tournaments (World Cup and Euros) are the most of any European player in history.

Yet Kane did not manage a touch in the Spain area in the final. In fact, across the Euro 2020 and Euro 2024 finals, Kane had just one touch in the opposition’s area, one fewer than Jack Grealish had. The main issue is, Grealish played 21 minutes in the 2020 final and did not make the 2024 squad.

1 – Harry Kane had just one touch in the opposition box across the EURO 2020 and EURO 2024 finals against Italy and Spain, one fewer than Jack Grealish had; Grealish played 21 minutes in the 2020 final and didn’t make the EURO 2024 squad. Uninvolved. pic.twitter.com/IzvN6pdnps

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 14, 2024

Cody Gakpo

The Netherlands suffered last-minute heartbreak against England in the last eight, but Gakpo enjoyed a productive tournament before that, netting three times – once each against Poland, Austria and Romania.

Deployed largely from the left after being used centrally at Liverpool last term, it will be intriguing to see how his exploits influence how Arne Slot uses him in 2024-25.

Jamal Musiala

Germany may have slipped up in the last eight against the eventual champions, but one home favourite had something to celebrate as Musiala claimed a share of the honour.

Musiala started as he meant to go on by netting in Germany’s first two group games against Scotland and Hungary. Florian Wirtz also scored in the opening match as Germany became the first team to have two players aged 21 or younger score in the same Euros match.

Georges Mikautadze

Georgia were a neutrals’ favourite as they reached the last 16 before losing to Spain, and Mikautadze was their star with three goals and one assist.

He managed those goal contributions in just 347 minutes, fewer than any of the other Golden Boot winners played.

Ivan Schranz

Slovakia’s Schranz was the final player to net three times at the tournament, scoring twice in Group E and almost dumping England out in the last 16.

Only Robert Vittek (four) at the 2010 World Cup has netted more at a single major tournament for Slovakia.