Bale voted best player of Euro 2016 group stage

Wales hero Gareth Bale has been voted the best player of the Euro 2016 group stage by Goal readers.

The Real Madrid winger was the only player to score in all three rounds of matches as his team reached the last 16. He bagged free-kicks in the win over Slovakia and defeat to England, and scored the final goal of Wales' 3-0 thumping of Russia.

Bale picked up 27 per cent of the vote, slightly higher than runner up Michal Pazdan (21%). The defender has been integral to a Poland side yet to concede in the competition.

France's opening day hero Dimitri Payet also picked up 21% of the final tally, having scored against Romania and Albania as the hosts topped Group A.

The only other player to pick up a significant chunk of votes was Spain's Andres Iniesta (12%), who put in man of the match performances against Czech Republic and Turkey.

Croatia captain Darijo Srna (6%) came fifth having not allowed his father's death early in the tournament to affect his outstanding form as they finished above Spain in Group D.

Italy defenderk Leonardo Bonucci, Napoli star Marek Hamsik and Switzerland pass master Granit Xhaka all picked up 4% of the vote, while Northern Ireland's Michael McGovern, Spain's Alvaro Morata and Germany's Jonas Hector (1%) fought for scraps.