In a historic night for Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal maintained their perfect record in Euro 2024 qualifying Group J with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Iceland. Ronaldo, who became the first player to reach 200 international appearances, secured the win with a stunning late goal. The match remained goalless until the 81st minute when Iceland’s Willum Thor Willumsson was sent off, giving Portugal the opportunity to step up their pressure. Ronaldo’s close-range strike in the 89th minute was initially ruled out for offside but was eventually given after a VAR review confirmed he was onside. With this goal, Ronaldo extended his record as the all-time leading international goalscorer to 123 goals for Portugal.
In Group F, Belgium overcame a turbulent period with a 3-0 victory over Estonia. Stand-in captain Romelu Lukaku took charge, scoring two goals in quick succession towards the end of the first half, while Johan Bakayoko contributed with his first international goal. The win followed a challenging build-up marred by a dispute between coach Domenico Tedesco and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, casting doubt on Courtois’ international future. Despite the chaos, Belgium sits in second place with seven points from three matches, behind Austria who leads the group with 10 points from four games. Estonia, on the other hand, has only managed to secure a single point from their three fixtures.
In other group results, Norway defeated Cyprus 3-1 in Group A, while Scotland emerged victorious with a 2-0 win over Georgia. In Group E, Faroe Islands fell to a 1-3 defeat against Albania, and Moldova surprised Poland with a 3-2 victory. Group G saw Bulgaria and Serbia play to a 1-1 draw, while Hungary claimed a 2-0 win over Lithuania. Finally, in Group J, Bosnia and Herzegovina suffered a 0-2 loss to Luxembourg, Iceland was defeated 0-1 by Portugal, and Liechtenstein was handed a 0-1 defeat by Slovakia.
Post Your Comments