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Asensio leads Saúl Ñíguez in Golden Boot race

Spain's Marco Asensio remains top of the U21 EURO scoring chart, though his compatriot Saúl Ñíguez has joined him in the race for the adidas Golden Boot by registering in successive games.

Spain's Marco Asensio is leading the race for the adidas Golden Boot
Spain's Marco Asensio is leading the race for the adidas Golden Boot ©Sportsfile

Marco Asensio remains the player to catch in the hunt for the adidas Golden Boot after two rounds of matches at the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Goalscorers so far (after first two rounds of group games)
3 – Marco Asensio (Spain)
2 – Saúl Ňíguez (Spain)
1 – 31 players

Spain forward Asensio owes his position at the top of the scorers' chart to his opening-game hat-trick against FYR Macedonia. He would have added a fourth goal to his total against Portugal on Tuesday but for a goal-line clearance by Edgar Ié.

Watch Asensio and the other U21 hat-trick heroes

Instead another Spaniard, Saúl Ňíguez, became the first player to score in successive games at this U21 EURO with a fine individual strike to make it 1-0. Saúl is profiting from a switch to a more advanced midfield role in Albert Celades's side, which has so far provided the only two players to have scored more than once in the tournament.

Past winners:
2015 – Jan Kliment, Czech Republic (3)
2013 – Álvaro Morata, Spain (4)

2011 – Adrián López, Spain (5)
2009 – Marcus Berg, Sweden (7)
2007 – Maceo Rigters, Netherlands (4)
2006 – Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Netherlands (4)
2004 – Alberto Gilardino, Italy (4)
2002 – Massimo Maccarone, Italy (3)
2000 – Andrea Pirlo, Italy (3)

While goals scored will always be the first criterion in deciding the leading marksman, further criteria will be used to separate players with the same goal tallies – firstly, assists, then minutes played (with the player boasting the better goals-to-minutes-on-the-pitch ratio taking precedence).

Full details about the adidas Golden Boot award available here.

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