Bruno Fernandes, Romelu Lukaku and other players who thrived during Euros qualifying

DREAM TEAM managers currently tinkering with their Euros fantasy XI should consider which players thrived during qualifying for this summer’s tournament.

We understand that many gaffers don’t have the time or patience to seek out spreadsheets and bar graphs so we’ve assembled all the headline stats here in one convenient location.

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EPARomelu Lukaku scored 14 goals to help Belgium qualify[/caption]

First up, let’s take a look at the top goalscorers during Euro 2024 qualifying.

MOST GOALS

14 – Romelu Lukaku (£5.5m)

10 – Cristiano Ronaldo (£6m)

9 – Kylian Mbappe (£7.5m)

8 – Harry Kane (£7.5m)

7 – Scott McTominay (£2.5m), Rasmus Hojlund (£4m)

Belgium’s target man particularly enjoyed himself against the likes of Estonia and Azerbaijan but a hat-trick away to Sweden plus goals in both fixtures against group runners-up Austria meant he was no flat-track bully.

When things go wrong for Lukaku they tend to go spectacularly wrong but that shouldn’t obscure the fact he’s a potent threat when everything clicks – he’s scored 83 goals in 114 caps in international football.

How about McTominay rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names in world football?

The Manchester United midfielder has been talismanic for Scotland lately and may well prove to be a smart differential option in Dream Team Euros if Steve Clarke’s side continue to punch above their weight this summer.

MOST ASSISTS

8 – Bruno Fernandes (£6m)

5 – Kylian Mbappe (£7.5m), Denzel Dumfries (£4.5m), Dominik Szoboszlai (£3.5m)

4 – Bernardo Silva (£4.5m), Dusan Tadic (£3m), Jeremy Doku (£5m) Nicolo Barella (£4m)

Ronaldo will always be Portugal’s megastar as long as he’s playing for them but Fernandes is the true driving force of the current side.

The 29-year-old finished the regular season in fine style and averaged nearly nine points-per-game for Man United after the turn of the year.

Dream TeamPortugal’s main man[/caption]

Mbappe is not only an elite goalscorer but a prolific creative force too – no wonder he’s the joint-most expensive player in the game.

Dumfries is a notable inclusion in this list as the Dutchman is categorised as a defender – wing-backs who provide an attacking threat can be worth their weight in gold.

As a side note, we’ve left out Teemu Pukki and Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson (five assists each) plus Harry Wilson and Olimpiu Morutan (four each) because we’re only really interested in players that will be present in Germany.

GOALS + ASSISTS PER 90 MINUTES

2.28 – Romelu Lukaku (£5.5m)

1.92 – Kylian Mbappe (£7.5m)

1.50 – Bruno Fernandes (£6m)

1.49 – Harry Kane (£7.5m)

1.46 – Marcel Sabizter (£3m)

Erling Haaland (1.48) has been omitted here as Norway didn’t qualify but otherwise it’s more of the same names.

This stat highlights Fernandes’ dual threat – he scored six goals on top of his eight assists – and cements him as a top-tier Dream Team Euros asset.

Sabitzer’s inclusion is interesting as he started just three of Austria’s eight qualifiers – what sort of impact could he have if allowed more minutes on the pitch?

GettyMbappe boasted impressive numbers throughout qualifying[/caption]

TOTAL SHOTS

46 – Cristiano Ronaldo (£6m)

38 – Kylian Mbappe (£7.5m)

34 – Robert Lewandowski (£5m)

32 – Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (3m)

29 – Romelu Lukaku (£5.5m), Nicolae Stanciu (£2m)

Total shots gives a sense of which players are presented with plentiful chances and those most hungry for goals.

It’s hardly surprising to see the five-time Ballon d’Or winner so far clear at the top as Portugal were gifted a relatively favourable group and dominated almost every qualifying fixture – not to diminish the appeal of Ronaldo and Fernandes as assets.

However, total shots only tells us a fraction of the story; additional context changes the outlook quite dramatically.

For example, Georgia’s superstar Kvaratskhelia is an entertaining talent but only five of his 32 shots in qualifying were registered as on target – compare that ratio to Lukaku’s (62.1% of shots on target) and it’s night and day.

Greece’s Anastasios Bakasetas (32) and Luxembourg’s Gerson Rodrigues (30) have been removed.

Kenny RamsayKvaratskhelia struggled to hit the target[/caption]

SHOTS ON TARGET PER 90 MINUTES

2.74 – Romelu Lukaku (£5.5m)

2.37 – Cristiano Ronaldo (£6m)

2.33 – Andrej Kramaric (£3m)

2.26 – Michael Gregoritsch (£2.5m)

2.21 – Zeki Amdouni (£2.5m)

Remember, shots on target are worth one point each in our Euros fantasy game and boiling stats down to per 90 minutes gives a clearer indication of what players do with their time on the pitch.

It’s interesting that big names like Mbappe and Kane are absent from the top end of this metric but strikers from Croatia, Austria and Swizterland make the cut.

TACKLES

22 – Joao Palhinha (£3.5m)

21 – Milos Kerkez (£2.5m)

19 – Antoine Griezmann (£6.5m)

18 – Andrej Duda (£2m)

17 – Jaka Bijol (£2m)

We’ve had to remove plenty of players here as naturally many of the productive tacklers during qualifying represented smaller teams that weren’t afforded much possession.

It’s no surprise to see Palhinha come out on top of the revised ranking as he was in a league of his own for tackles in our regular season game.

The Fulham and Portugal midfielder takes no prisoners in the middle of park and is fully capable of earning four or five Dream Team points in one game from tackles alone when in the mood – although he gets his fair share of yellow cards too.

Modern football’s tackle machineGetty

Further evidence here of why Griezmann has been categorised as a midfielder in Dream Team Euros.

He may not score the same volume of goals at international level as he once did but he does pretty much everything else in a deeper role.

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CLEAN SHEETS

6 – Diogo Costa (£4m)

5 – Martin Dubravka (£1.5m), Dominik Livakovic (£3.5m), Mike Maignan (£4.5m)

4 – Angus Gunn (£2m), Jan Oblak (£3m), Jordan Pickford (£4m), Wojciech Szczesny (£2.5m)

Portugal’s favourable group also allowed their first-choice goalkeeper to top the charts for clean sheets in qualifying.

Costa is currently the fourth-most popular asset in his position among gaffers but it wouldn’t be a shock if he cracked the top three before the Matchday 1 deadline.

Dubravka’s price suddenly looks very reasonable although it’s worth noting that Slovakia play Belgium in their opening game.

GettyIs Dubravka good value at £1.5m?[/caption]

SAVES

35 – Giorgi Mamardashvili (£2m)

27 – Martin Dubravka (£1.5m)

25 – Horatiu Moldovan (£1.5m)

22 – Denes Dibusz (£2.5m)

21 – Dominik Livakovic (£3.5m), Anatoliy Trubin (£2.5m)

Clean sheets are like goals to keepers but with one point earned for every two saves completed it’s worth considering each individual’s workload too.

Andre Onana finished as the top goalkeeper in our regular season game, mostly because he was forced to make a huge volume of saves over the course of the campaign.

Again, we’ve omitted those who failed to qualify and Georgia’s No1 tops the pile as a result – the Valencia keeper is highly rated by those in the know.

The stats suggest Dubravka ticks both boxes in terms of clean sheets and saves but it’s worth noting Slovakia finished runners-up to Portugal in that favourable qualifying group – Luxembourg finished third for context.

Dream Team will be on hand with plenty more tips, tricks, stats and facts as the tournament draws near.

If you haven’t yet selected an XI, even as a first draft, what are you waiting for?