Fernando 'The Ghost' Torres pips one and all for Golden Boot!
The striker, who started just one game and came off the bench on two other occasions, made the most of his opportunities to finish joint top scorer with three goals, and eventually winning it.
Spain's Fernando Torres, who barely got to see the ball, but sent it to the back of the net whenever he saw it, has ended up winning the Golden Boot award for the Euro 2012.
Torres, who came on as a late substitute in the final, ended up as the joint tournament top-scorer thanks to a goal in the final eight minutes of play in his team's 4-0 drubbing of Italy.
Though Torres finished with three goals and an assist -- on par with Germany's young star Mario Gomez -- he won the Golden Boot as he had played fewer minutes than the Bayern Munich striker, which happens to be UEFA's tiebreak criteria.
The Chelsea striker scored in the 84th minute of the final and, in the 88th minute, faced with the choice of going for goal or feeding his teammate Juan Mata, also a late sub, chose the latter option.
He had earlier scored two goals in Spain's 4-0 win over Ireland in the group stage.
Torres succeeds injured teammate David Villa, who was present in the stands along with injured captain Carles Puyol, and who was the top scorer at the Championships four years ago with four goals.
Italy’s Mario Balotelli, Alan Dzagoev of Russia, Mario Mandzukic of Croatia and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal also had three goals at Euro 2012.