Rooney's record beaten by Swiss striker Vonlanthen

Swiss forward Johan Vonlanthen celebrates after his goal against France at Coimbra's stadium during the Euro 2004 first round.

Switzerland's 18-year-old striker Johan Vonlanthen became the youngest ever scorer in a European championships finals, beating the record set last week by Wayne Rooney, when he found the net against France.

At 18 years four months and 20 days, Vonlanthen was three months and four days younger than Rooney who had established the new mark with his two goals against Switzerland last Thursday.

Vonlanthen entered the record books in Switzerland's 3-1 defeat to France after defender Mikael Silvestre gave the ball away, allowing Ricardo Cabanas to flick a pass through the French defence and Vonlanthen stroked the ball past goalkeeper Fabien Barthez in the 26th minute.

"It was something great, beautiful. But it would have been better if we'd won the game," Vonlanthen said.

"I didn't go on to the pitch thinking about it, the boss gave me the chance to play and I had the fortune to score."

But the teenager who plays for Dutch side PSV Eindhoven saw Switzerland's chance of a draw snatched away by two goals from Thierry Henry.

"We played really well to get back level. Then we became unbalanced due to Henry's individual skills," he said.

The son of a Colombian mother and Swiss father, Vonlanthen lived in Colombia until the age of 12.

He only made his international debut in Switzerland's last friendly before Euro 2004, a 1-0 victory over Liechtenstein.

Coincidentally, Rooney set the record in the same Coimbra City Stadium.

The Everton striker took over the honour from Dragan Stojkovic, who hit the net for Yugoslavia against France at the 1984 finals aged 19 years, three months and 16 days.