Euro 2016: Who will win the Golden Boot award?

 

France's Dimitri Payet kisses the boot of Antoine Griezmann after the latter scored.

The race for Golden Boot award at the 2016 Euro Championship heats up with French players occupying the top three spots ahead of the semi-final round. 

France forward Antoine Griezmann leads the way in the race followed by his teammates Olivier Giroud and Dimitri Payet. 

Griezmann moved onto four goals after scoring in the first half of Sunday's 5-2 quarter-final victory against Iceland. He also provided two assists, one of which was for Payet, who went level with Gareth Bale and Alvaro Morata on three goals when he struck Les Bleus' third against Iceland. 

 

France's Olivier Giroud celebrates at the end of the Iceland game.

Olivier Giroud, who had broken the deadlock at the Stade de France, joined that trio on three goals by heading in the hosts' fifth of the night. He also chalked up an assist to climb ahead of Payet and Bale and ensure a French 1-2-3 in the chart going into the semi-finals.

Cristiano Ronaldo occupies sixth position and has a chance to claim the top award if he manages to score heavily in the remaining matches.  

Assists are used to separate players on the same number of strikes, before minutes played are then taken into consideration.

Golden Boot leaders 

1 Antoine Griezmann, France: 4 goals (2 assists, 345 minutes)

2 Olivier Giroud, France: 3 goals (2 assists, 300 minutes)

3 Dimitri Payet, France: 3 goals (2 assists, 377 minutes) 

4 Gareth Bale, Wales: 3 goals (1 assist, 443 minutes)

5 Alvaro Morata, Spain: 3 goals (0 assists, 289 minutes) 

6 Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal: 2 goals (2 assists, 510 minutes) 

Courtesy: UEFA