Euro 2020 mess: Own goals leads the tournament in scoring

Own goals, the act of mistakenly scoring in your own net, continues to dominate Euro 2020.

Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon pulled off one of the biggest gaffes at a major international tournament on Monday, misplaying a back pass that ended up in his own goal to gift Croatia a temporary lead.

Unai’s blunder in the 20th minute marked the ninth own goal scored at Euro 2020. That overall tally at this tournament equals as many own goals as the previous 15 editions of the Euros dating back to 1960 combined.

Why have there been so many own goals at Euro 2020?

Simon’s error, which was officially attributed to Barcelona midfielder Pedri as an own goal on the official UEFA scoresheet, was the first own goal of the knockout stage and the fourth by a goalkeeper at these Euros.

By comparison, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo comes in second with five goals. He is also the current top scorer at the tournament, although Portugal were eliminated on Sunday by Belgium in the Round of 16.

Spain, however, recovered by tying the score late in the first half in their quest to reach the quarterfinals.