England’s striker Harry Kane ended Euro 2024 as one of six players tied for the Golden Boot top scorer, despite his team’s 2-1 loss to Spain in the final. This added to his collection of individual awards, although he has yet to win a major trophy for his club or country.
Kane finished the tournament with three goals, matching Spain’s Dani Olmo, Germany’s Jamal Musiala, Netherlands’ Cody Gakpo, Slovakia’s Ivan Schranz, and Georgia’s Georges Mikautadze.
This marks Kane’s second consecutive runner-up finish in the European Championship finals, following England’s defeat to Italy three years ago. He has also been a runner-up in a Champions League final and two English League Cups.
Reflecting on England’s loss to Spain, Kane told British broadcaster ITV, “It’s an opportunity missed. It’s not easy to get to these finals. It takes unbelievable resilience and character to get to where we are but ultimately you take the opportunity when it comes and we haven’t done it again. It’s extremely painful, it’s going to hurt for a long, long time.”
Kane is one of four men’s players to have been top scorer at both a European Championship and a World Cup, achieving the latter in 2018.
In the final, Olmo made a crucial defensive contribution for Spain by clearing Marc Guéhi’s header off the line to preserve their lead late in the match.
Goalkeeper Unai Simón praised Olmo’s save, saying, “I told him that he is my top scorer because his save counts as a goal for me. It was our planned defense for him to protect that post, but he remembered to do just that and cleared it off the line. It was incredible.”
For Olmo, sharing the top scorer title at Euro 2024 is a significant achievement, considering his career has been hampered by recurring injuries. He made an unconventional rise in European soccer, leaving Barcelona’s youth academy at 16 in 2014 and debuting professionally with Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb before joining Leipzig in Germany in 2019.
