Euro 2020 kicks off on Friday, 11th June. The Golden boot will be awarded to the player who scores the most goals in the tournament. Here are 5 players who are most likely to win the prize.
5) Kylian Mbappe -
France are clear favourites to win the tournament despite being in the group of death. The current world champions on paper are a better team than they were a couple of years ago. Karim Benzema's return to the French side is a major boost for them. Kylian Mbappe was the Ligue 1 top scorer for the 3rd time in a row having scored 27 goals. The reason Mbappe is 5th on this list and not 1st is that France have other goalscoring outlets as well. France will score a lot of goals but they are likely to come from different players, unlike the other 4 contenders.
4) Memphis Depay -
Memphis Depay is a dark horse in the international football scene. He is been the main man for the Netherlands for the past 2 years. Netherlands would have been favourites in this tournament if Van Dijk hadn't been injured. The Liverpool defender's absence is a huge blow to their chances. But they still have a very talented squad. Depay scored 20 Ligue 1 goals this season only behind Kylian Mbappe and provided the most assists(12). Netherlands are in a group with North Macedonia, Austria and Ukraine. The Dutch team should top the group without any major difficulty and Depay wi play a huge part in it.
3) Harry Kane -
England have a recent history of being below par at International tournaments. Despite that in the 2018 World cup England made it to the Semi-Final with a very young squad. That squad has only become better for the Euros this year. This year England has a chance more than ever to win their first international trophy since the World win way back in 1966. In terms of goals, there is absolutely no doubt that the majority of them have to come from Harry Kane. The striker is coming into the tournament on the back of a very successful Premier League campaign in which he not only scored the most goals(23) but also racked up the most assists(14). Kane won the Golden Boot in the 2018 World Cup and if England manage to go deep into this tournament Harry Kane is the favourite to win the Golden boot.
2) Romelu Lukaku -
Romelu Lukaku is in the form of his life. The striker was voted Serie A's most valuable player having scored 30 goals and provided 11 assists in all competitions this season. Belgium have a lot of providers like De Bruyne, Hazard, Carrasco, Mertens but they have only one proper goalscorer. It's a no-brainer that Lukaku will be Belgium's main goal threat. Belgium were runner's up in the 2018 World Cup and with a favourable group in the Euros Belgium are all set to go to the later stages of the tournament and potentially win it.
1) Cristiano Ronaldo -
It's hard to believe that Despite being the active player with the most international goals, Cristiano Ronaldo has never won a golden boot in an international tournament. The reason has more to do with Portugal's style of play rather than Ronaldo's individual performances. Portugal have traditionally been a counter-attacking team that sits deep and absorbs opposition pressure. They won the last Euros with the same approach, despite that Ronaldo managed to get 3 goals and 3 assists and won the silver boot. This time around Portugal have a plethora of attacking talent Bernardo Silva, Joao Felix, Diogo Jota, Bruno Fernandes the list goes on. Joao Cancelo and Raphael Guerrero are two of the best attacking fullbacks in the world. If Portugal do play attacking football then you can't look past Ronaldo to bag the majority of their goals. Ronaldo became the first player to win the golden boot in 3 different leagues this season after scoring 29 league goals for Juventus. Portugal are in the group of death so scoring won't be very easy but if anyone can do it, it's Cristiano Ronaldo.
