Euro 2020 Qualifiers: A look at the top 5 goalscorers

The initial qualifying period for UEFA Euro 2020 is now over, and some outsider bets like Turkey, Finland and Austria have qualified alongside the usual suspects like Germany, France, England and Spain.

We’ve seen some fantastic action in these qualifiers – which began earlier this year in March – and there have been a massive 801 goals scored across the 250 matches. Belgium were Europe’s top goalscorers, hitting 40 in their 10 games, while no side conceded more goals than San Marino, who leaked a total of 51.

So who were Europe’s top marksmen? 16 players scored more than 5 goals, but the following 5 men were able to find the net more than anyone else. Here’s a look at the Euro 2020 qualifiers’ top goalscorers.

#4= Aleksandar Mitrovic, Serbia: 10 goals

Aleksandar Mitrovic has been on good form for club and country this season

In joint fourth place with 10 goals stands Serbia’s target-man Aleksandar Mitrovic. The Fulham striker has been on good form this season at club level, contributing an impressive 12 goals in 16 league matches thus far, and so it hardly comes as a surprise that of his 10 goals for Serbia, 7 of them have come in the matches that took place following the beginning of 2019/20.

Could Mitrovic be accused of being somewhat of a flat-track bully in these qualifiers? Potentially; 4 of his goals came against bottom-of-the-group Lithuania, who shipped a total of 25 goals in their 8 games. Regardless though, he’s clearly a dangerous man to spearhead Serbia’s attack – without him they’d only have scored a total of 7 goals.

Serbia are next due to play Norway in the semi-finals of their Euro 2020 Playoff bracket, and if Mitrovic can keep firing, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t qualify for the tournament next summer.

#4= Teemu Pukki, Finland: 10 goals

Teemu Pukki's goals have taken Finland to their first major international tournament

Teemu Pukki’s goals might’ve dried up somewhat at club level - he hasn’t scored a Premier League goal for Norwich City since September 14th – but that hasn’t stopped him from consistently finding the net for his country during Euro 2020 qualifying. Finland have qualified for their first ever major international tournament, and to say that would’ve been impossible without the Norwich hitman wouldn’t be far off; he was responsible for 10 of their 16 goals.

Pukki’s goals alone allowed the Finns to defeat both Bosnia & Herzegovina and Greece, a pair of huge wins for the Scandinavian side given both teams have qualified for recent tournaments (although neither competed in the last edition of the Euros), and led them to qualification ahead of both and only behind Italy.

Given Pukki also fired Finland to victory in their UEFA Nations League C group – he scored three goals in the opening three games – it’s clear that he’s as dangerous a finisher at international level as he is at club level. With that in mind, it’s probably best not to bet against him potentially causing some upsets when the tournament comes around next summer.

#2= Eran Zahavi, Israel: 11 goals

Eran Zahavi scored 11 goals despite Israel's generally poor showing

Given Israel finished 5th in their qualifying group and have only made the playoffs for Euro 2020 by virtue of their strong performance in last year’s UEFA Nations League, it’s pretty baffling to see that their striker Eran Zahavi actually scored 11 goals in the campaign, putting him in joint second place in this list.

It wasn’t like Israel scored an unusual amount of goals, either; they delivered 16, a total less than Poland, Austria and Slovenia, who all finished above them. Essentially, the Guangzhou R&F striker was their only true source of goals throughout, and he only failed to find the net in 3 of their 10 games.

To put him into even more rarefied company, Zahavi was one of just three players to score more than one hat-trick during these qualifiers, the other two being the two players to score equal or more goals than he did. The question now becomes, can he find the net again in March’s playoffs?

#2= Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal: 11 goals

Who would bet against Cristiano Ronaldo breaking Ali Daei's record of 109 international goals?

After his move to Juventus in the summer of 2018, Cristiano Ronaldo chose to sit out Portugal’s group matches in last year’s UEFA Nations League, only returning to action with his country in the summer as they went on to win the competition. Unfortunately for all of Portugal’s opponents, CR7 has been back with a vengeance since then, banging in 11 goals during this qualifying campaign.

Portugal weren’t able to win their group; a loss to Ukraine and draws with Ukraine and Serbia saw fit to that, but they were easily the biggest bullies on view, as they put a total of 16 goals past the bottom two sides of Luxembourg and Lithuania. Unsurprisingly, Ronaldo scored 9 of those goals, with 7 of them coming against the hapless Lithuanians.

Not only does the Juventus striker still stand as Portugal’s all-time top goalscorer, but his return in this qualifying campaign has put him on a ludicrous 99 goals for his country. Only a madman would put money on him not breaking the century – and then chasing Ali Daei’s record of 109 international goals.

#1 Harry Kane, England: 12 goals

Nobody in the Euro 2020 qualifiers has been able to outscore England's Harry Kane

When England were drawn in a relatively soft Euro 2020 qualifying group against the Czech Republic, Kosovo, Bulgaria and Montenegro, there was always the chance that Harry Kane could help himself to some more international goals. After all, the Spurs striker won the 2018 World Cup’s Golden Boot, and none of those opponents had a well-renowned defence.

Sure enough, Kane delivered in spades, scoring 12 goals – more than any other player in the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign. And in typical Kane fashion, he scored all kinds of goals; close-range tap-ins, headers, smart finishes to great team moves and penalties, they were all fair game for the England captain.

In the end, Kane was also able to set a record of his own; he became the first England player to score in every single qualifying game that his side played in, including hitting two hat-tricks. Only time will tell whether he can repeat the feat in winning the Golden Boot in next summer’s tournament, but it wouldn’t be smart to write it off.