5 Goals Should Do It To Make Euro 2008 Top Scorer

Before every major tournament the speculation starts about who will emerge as the main hitman. Often it's an unlikely name (Salvatore Schillaci, anyone?) but that doesn't prevent the guessing game.

The Euro Finals have only been a 16 team competition since 1996, thus popping in an extra game and 5 goals has been the standard to get the Golden Boot.

In 2004 it was Milan Baros of the Czech Republic who put aside indifferent form in the Premiership and ended on top of the pile even though the Czechs missed out on the Final. Eventual winners Greece specialised in single goal wins.

In 2000 there was no surprise to see Holland's Patrick Kuivert bang in a quintet of goals. Aston Villa fans were a bit nonpluassed to see Yugoslavia Savo Milosevic (aka Misalot) join him. At Euro 96 Alan Shearer's 5 strikes so nearly carried Terry Venables' side all the way.

Before 1996 there were only 8 qualifiers, so no quarter-final. Marco Van Basten still managed to crack home 5 in 1988 including a hat-trick against England. 1992 broke tradition as several players posted a miserly three in a dull tournament.

Even Van Basten couldn't better the superhuman effort by Michel Platini in 1984. The French genius struck nine - yes you did read that right- times in just 5 games. No one else in the competition bagged more than three.

For fans considering a punt this time several factors are worth bringing into the equation;

1 Is your man a regular starter?
2. Do they take penalties and free kicks? Nearly all top scorers do one or both.
3 Do they play for a side likely to go all the way , or at least to the semis?
4 Do they avoid yellow cards? One game out for suspension can make all the difference.
5 Do they play for an attacking side? Greece won the thing in 2004 but were never likely to produce the top scorer with their style of play.
6 Is he the main striker? Teams that share the goals around don't deliver the top scorer. In 2004 Baros was allowed to play for the Czechs in a way that Liverpool hadn't used him- Milosovic was very much the spearhead for the Yugoslavs 4 years earlier.