Fast starts and misfiring superstars – the numbers behind Euro 2024 so far

Cody Gakpo, left, and Jamal Musiala lead the race for the Golden Boot (Bradley Collyer/PA)

Euro 2024’s last 16 is complete with the eight surviving teams looking ahead to the quarter-finals on Friday and Saturday.

Here, the PA news agency looks at the statistics that could point the way for the next stage.

Contrasting fortunes

Cristiano Ronaldo is yet to score from 20 shots on goal (Bradley Collyer/PA)

The tournament’s two highest-scoring teams meet in Stuttgart, with Germany on 10 goals to Spain’s eight.

Spain’s 82 shots also lead the way while Germany’s Jamal Musiala is level with the Netherlands’ Cody Gakpo – and eliminated pair Ivan Schranz and Georges Mikautadze – atop the Golden Boot standings.

Elsewhere though, Switzerland have attempted only 46 shots and opponents England 45, by far the lowest figures among qualified teams, while frustration in front of goal has been the theme of France and Portugal’s tournament.

France are yet to score from open play, with two own-goals and a penalty seeing them this far, while Cristiano Ronaldo’s 20 efforts on goal for Portugal are more than any other player in the tournament but he has failed to find the net.

That includes an extra-time penalty saved by Slovenia’s Jan Oblak on Monday night, though Ronaldo did score in the shoot-out that followed – in which Diogo Costa saved all three Slovenia attempts, a European Championship record.

Turkey have faced comfortably the most shots on their goal of any quarter-finalist, 59 after Austria’s barrage of 21 on Tuesday.

The average of 2.27 goals per game is comfortably down on Euro 2020’s 2.78 as well as the respective marks of 2.69 and 2.64 at the 2022 and 2018 World Cups.

Pass masters

Spain’s Rodri on the ball against Georgia — Spain have shed their status as kings of possession (Nick Potts/PA)

Spain, for so long the benchmark for possession and passing football, rank only fourth in those categories among the quarter-finalists this time around to emphasise the evolution in their style.

Luis de la Fuente’s side have completed 2,281 of 2,578 passes but those numbers trail Portugal (2,558 of 2,953), England (2,470 of 2,837) and Germany (2,451 of 2,745) – with the caveat that Portugal and England both needed extra-time in the last 16.

The possession statistics show the same top three, with Germany this time ahead of England, though Spain’s 88.5 per cent pass completion ranks second behind the hosts’ 89.3 per cent.

Switzerland’s passes (1,543 completed of 1,872) and completion percentage (82.4) are the lowest of the eight and they are also the only remaining team with less than 50 per cent possession in their games so far (46.8).

Miscellaneous

Belgium’s Jan Vertonghen, left, scores an own goal in the game against France (Martin Meissner/AP)

There have now been nine own-goals in the tournament, the latest from Belgium’s Jan Vertonghen and Spain’s Robin Le Normand in the last 16 – Vertonghen inadvertently seeing France through, while Spain recovered to beat Georgia 4-1.

Ronaldo’s was the third miss from 11 penalties, with Croatia responsible for the other two in the group stage. Portugal v Slovenia produced the only shoot-out so far.

Turkey’s Merih Demiral scored the quickest ever Euro knock-out stage goal, after 57 seconds, in the last 16 against Austria – this tournament has also seen the outright fastest at a European Championship, Albania’s 23rd-second opener from Nedim Bajrami against Italy in the group stage.

The tournament hit exactly 100 goals and 200 yellow cards as the last 16 wrapped up, Austria’s Michael Gregoritsch and Philipp Lienhart respectively ticking off the twin milestones.