Star footballer Cristiano Ronaldo may not have kicked a goal at Euro 2024 yet – but that’s not for a lack of attempts.
Cristiano Ronaldo had the most attempts on target and hosts Germany made the best use of their chances in the first round of pool matches at the European Championship, while a forward from Romania has been the quickest across the grass so far.
Ronaldo did not get on the scoresheet from his three shots on target in Portugal’s 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic on Tuesday and is one of four players to have five attempts at goal in total along with France’s Marcus Thuram, Georgia’s Georges Mikautadze and Christian Eriksen of Denmark.
It has been a tournament for early – and late – goals so far, with six of the 34 netted inside the opening 15 minutes, and 14 in the first half-hour. There have been four goals scored past the 90-minute mark already.
With a healthy average of 2.84 goals per game, or one every 32 minutes, only five of the 24 teams failed to find the back of the net in their opening fixtures.
Albania’s Nedim Bajrami scored the fastest goal in Euros history after 23 seconds against Italy, though his side ended up losing 2-1.
Portugal led the possession numbers with 69 percent, while hosts Germany were similarly dominant with 68 percent as they thumped Scotland 5-1.
The Germans have the best passing accuracy with 94 percent, led by their 21-year-old attacking midfielder Jamal Musiala, who completed 100 percent of his 33 passes to teammates.
Serbia put in the joint most number of tackles with 20 in their 1-0 loss to England, a figure matched by Turkey in their rip-roaring 3-1 victory over Georgia.
Two players managed two assists in the first round of games, Romania forward Dennis Man as they beat Ukraine 3-0 and, perhaps more surprising, Netherlands defender Nathan Ake in the 2-1 victory over Poland.
Turkey had the most shots at goal as a team with 22, one more than the Netherlands, and also had the highest expected goals (xG) – a measure of how promising their chances were – with 2.62.
The most efficient side was Germany, who netted five times from an xG of 2.04, and the most wasteful was Croatia, as they were held scoreless by Spain in their 3-0 loss despite an xG of 2.27.
Czech goalkeeper Jindrich Stanek was the busiest between the posts, making seven saves, one more than the Netherlands’s Bart Verbruggen.
Four players were clocked at running at more than 35 kilometres per hour (21mph), headed by Romania forward Valentin Mihaila (35.9km/h, 22.3mph).
Belgium’s Jeremy Doku (35.3km/h, 21.9mph), Rasmus Hojlund (35.3km/h) from Denmark and France captain Kylian Mbappe (35.2km/h, 21.8mph) were the others.
No player covered more grass than Serbia midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, who ran 13.9km (8.6 miles) against England.