Sports are all about psychology – and as much as statistics can give us a razor-sharp insight into exactly what’s happening, if your top-of-the-pile ‘2 goals a game’ striker goes into the European Cup Final with a cloud of depression over him, there could be some serious problems. Look back to France 98 for example, and the distinctly shaky Ronaldo, who emerged onto the pitch just hours after hysterical hotel staff had reported him dead, the Brazilian talisman then presiding over a turgid Brazilian 3-0 reverse.

That’s why those boffins at Castrol are not only content with bringing literally every statistic you could ever want to see about Euro 2008, but they’re offering a little bit of an insight into the physcology of it all too.

And while I don’t want to spoil the article, which will be posted on the CPI News Ticker in the next couple of days, I’ll offer an insight into some of the questions one might be asking about player’s states of mind during Euro2008. For example, truly great goalscorers are often synonymous with their over-zealous goal celebrations – but Castrol sports psychologist Andy Barton thinks it’s about more than just showmanship.

He says “our ability to recall a memory is increased when there are strong emotions attached to it, which is why it is important to put a lot of emotion into a positive experience” Players “such as Thierry Henry, Ronaldo and Luca Toni tend to shrug off misses in a detached way, but experience greater emotions when they do score. In doing this a player is training his mind to remember the experience in order to increase their confidence when faced with a similar situation.” (See below)

Interesting stuff, and answering the question as to why certain players play better for club rather than country, as well as how the very top goalkeepers avoid dramatic and prolonged dips in form - he also leaves this rather hot tip for those gamblers amongst you… “When there is a sense of fun, teams tend to focus more on the performance; I would always back the team that plays with a smile on their face…” Jens Lehmann not set to bow out in style then?