Ronaldo, who at 39 will become the first player to participate in six finals, scored two goals in 2004, one in 2008, three in 2012, three in 2016, and four in the 2020 edition.
The Portuguese ‘7’ reached the top of the table with his ninth goal in the European Championships, scored against Wales (2-0) in the semi-finals of Euro2016, on his way to the title, equaling then the Frenchman Michel Platini, who led alone since the sensational record of nine goals, with goals in every game, in 1984.
The current Portuguese ‘captain’ made his European debut at the age of 19, in 2004, and immediately scored two goals in six games, one in the opening game, not avoiding the defeat against Greece (1-2), and another with the Netherlands (2-1), in the semi-finals.
In 2008, he added just one goal, in three games, against the Czech Republic (2-0), and, four years later, in 2012, he added three, in five matches, two against the Netherlands (2-1), and another to the Czechs (1-0), in the quarter-finals.
During the title campaign in 2016, Ronaldo contributed three more goals in seven games, scoring twice against Hungary (3-3) in the group stage and scoring the first goal in the semi-finals against the Welsh. , equaling Platini.
In 2021, the Portuguese footballer only needed one goal to overcome the Frenchman and he achieved it on his debut, against Hungary, in Budapest, with a penalty scored in the 87th minute.
Cristiano Ronaldo also scored twice against the Magyars (3-2), and then also scored in the other two games of the group stage, scoring one against Germany (2-4) and two against France (2-2), in the transformation of two more penalties.
Scorer of five goals, the Portuguese athlete finished the competition as top scorer, along with the Czech Patrik Schick, and took his total to 14, a record that could increase in Germany, as he was one of the 26 Portuguese squad for Euro2024.
With Ronaldo’s ’emancipation’, Frenchman Michel Platini was, 37 years later, dethroned from the scoring leadership, which he assumed in spectacular fashion in 1984, by contributing nine goals to the first Gallic scepter, in his only European Championship.
The former player of Nancy, Saint-Étienne, and Juventus, a club where he shone from 1982/83 to 86/87 when Serie A was the center of the world, and also the former president of UEFA, now aged 68, wrote in 1984 the best individual performance by a player in European finals.
Platini started with a goal against Denmark (1-0), in the second game he achieved a hat-trick against Belgium (5-0), immediately equaling the Germans Gerd Müller and Dieter Müller and the Yugoslavian Dragan Dzajic in the lead of the scorers, and, to close the group stage, achieved another hat-trick, against Yugoslavia (3-2).
Completing a European Championship in which he scored in every game, the 1983, 1984, and 1985 Ballon d’Or winner scored the goal that defeated Portugal, in extra time of the semi-finals (3-2), and, like ‘icing on the cake’ ‘, scored in the final against Spain (2-0).
The Frenchman lost the top of the table to Ronaldo, but is still second, with nine goals, two more than Englishman Alan Shearer (five in 1996 and two in 2000) and his compatriot Antoine Griezmann (six in 2016 and one in 2020 ), which could steal his place at Euro2024.
In fifth place in the ranking, with six goals, follows a septet, which includes the Portuguese Nuno Gomes (four in 2000, one in 2004, and one in 2008) and two players still active, the Belgian Romelu Lukaku (two in 2016 and four in 2020) and Spanish Álvaro Morata (three in 2016 and three in 2020).
Still, with six goals, the Dutch are Patrick Kluivert and Ruud van Nistelrooy, the Frenchman Thierry Henry and the Englishman Wayne Rooney, and the Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
In collective terms, Germany (the German Federal Republic until 1988) has a solid lead, with a total of 78 goals, against 69 from France, 68 from Spain, and 65 from the Netherlands.
Fifth place belongs to Portugal, with 55 goals, ahead of Italy (52), England (50), Czech Republic (48, including those achieved by Czechoslovakia), Denmark (42), and Russia (40, including those of the Soviet Union ).
In 16 finals (every four years since 1960, with the exception of the 2020 edition, played in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic), 829 goals were scored, in 337 games, at an average of 2.46 per match.
In terms of average, the 1976 edition, held in Yugoslavia, was the most productive, with 4.75 per match (19 in just four games), while the poorest was the 1968 edition, in Italy, with a meager 1.40 (seven in five games).
In the history of the European Championships, there is also the Yugoslavian Milan Galic, who scored, in the 11th minute of the opening game, the first goal in the finals, on July 6, 1960, in the 5-4 victory over France, in the semi-finals.