Featured Articles / Mike Norman / 03 June 2008 / Leave a comment

"Mystical" Mike Norman recalls Platini's legendary performances in 1984, Van Basten coming off the bench to lead Holland to Euro 88 glory and Shearer raising a whole nation's hopes before a missed penalty put an end to it all.

One of the most extraordinary individual performances in European Championship history was that of Michel Platini when, back in 1984, he finished as the tournament's top goalscorer with an amazing nine goals (that included two perfect hat-tricks) in just five games.

France were crowned European Champions that year with Platini unsurprisingly named as the player of the tournament. But does Platini typify the type of player that you should be looking for when selecting who you think will finish Euro 08 as the tournament's Golden Boot winner?

Michel Platini was an attack-minded midfielder, and unquestionably one of the greatest playmakers ever to play the game. He was the general, an orchestrator if you like, and the linchpin of every forward movement the French made. His vision and awareness meant he could read a situation superbly, and allied with his magical passing ability he could split the opposition defence open in the blink of an eye. Free-kicks, headers, left foot, right foot, it all came natural to Platini, and his goalscoring record at both club and international level became the envy of many a recognised striker.

Few players at Euro 08 (if any) can be described as being in the mould of Platini, though two Premiership-based players that perhaps are closer than most are Germany's Michael Ballack, and Spain's Cesc Fabregas, available at [30.0] and a whopping [230.0] respectively to bag the most goals this summer.

In 1988 a 23 year-old Dutchman by the name of Marco van Basten showed that not only was he a great goalscorer and a scorer of great goals, he showed the world that he had the ability to perform on the big stage when most needed. One of the most feared strikers in world football, Van Basten had nerves of steal and because of this, pressure simply brought out the best of him. A hat-trick against England in the group stages (including that goal), a semi-final winner against West Germany, and a sublime effort against USSR in the final meant Van Basten became the leading goalscorer at Euro 88 - and with it he gives a huge shot in the arm to anyone wanting to back a proven out-and-out striker this time around.

Remarkably, Marco van Basten was Holland's third choice striker going into Euro 88, starting the tournament on the bench, but finishing it with five goals and as a national hero.

Who will miss out for France in their opening game - Thierry Henry ([23.0] to be top goalscorer), Karim Benzema ([36.0]) or Nicolas Anelka ([85])? Will it be Mario Gomez ([18.0]) or Lukas Podolski ([26]) that warms the German bench? Will Ruud van Nistelrooy ([22.0]) and David Villa ([18.0]) definitely start for Holland and Spain respectively?

Many of this year's leading contenders could easily start (and end) the tournament like Van Basten did, so don't be put off.

1992 was an unusual year in the fact that no out-and-out striker (other than Karlheinz Riedle) could score more than two goals, and it was left to a few attacking midfielders (Henrik Larsen and Tomas Brolin), a supporting striker (Dennis Bergkamp) and Riedle himself to share the top goalscorer award.

The summer of 1996 started with a huge national wave of expectation - but ended with a missed penalty and elimination for the host country (nothing new there then). Along the way Alan Shearer cemented his reputation as one of the best centre forwards in world football by scoring five times and finishing the tournament as the top goalscorer. His strength, aerial ability, and predatory instincts made him the perfect example of what is regarded as a typical English forward. From Euro 08's top goalscorer candidates perhaps only Germany's Miroslav Klose ([11.0]) can be described as having a similar style.

To add to the conundrum of choosing who you want to back this year, it has to be said that both Savo Milosevic (who shared the award in 2000 with Patrick Kluivert) and Milan Baros (winner in 2004) were surprise winners of the Golden Boot award when once again five goals was enough.

Kluivert and Baros were similar players in the fact that they were both blessed with speed and had an eye for goal - ironically, both never really fulfilled the huge promise that they showed at a younger age. Milosevic on the other hand can best be described as 'awkward'. He was a tall player that had good feet, but regularly drifted out of games and was far from prolific, even getting the nickname 'Miss-a-lot-ovic' during his spell at Aston Villa.

So who is likely to score five goals this year? Will it be a world class midfielder or a proven striker? Someone who starts every game or someone who comes off the bench - a favourite or an outsider? The choice is yours..... good luck!

Tags: Benzema, Euro 2008 betting, Platini, Van Basten hat-trick