Haaland’s brace helped Norway bounce back from their dramatic defeat to Scotland at the weekend with a 3-1 victory against Cyprus
Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo marked his 200th international appearance with a winner as Portugal beat Iceland 1-0 in Euro 2024 qualifying on Tuesday, while Erling Haaland netted twice for Norway.
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Elsewhere, Belgium brushed aside the Thibaut Courtois captaincy row by seeing off Estonia thanks to a Romelu Lukaku double in Tallinn and Moldova came from two goals down to stun Poland.
Portugal appeared to be heading towards a drab goalless draw in Reykjavik until Willum Thor Willumsson was sent off late on. Ronaldo struggled for much of the match but repaid coach Roberto Martinez’s faith by slotting home from Goncalo Inacio’s knock-down in the 89th minute. “It was a nice script [for Ronaldo]. There was incredible celebration, the first men’s player ever in world football to get 200 international games,” Martinez told uefa.com.
The former Real Madrid and Manchester United star’s record-extending 123rd international goal was initially ruled out for offside before being awarded by VAR. “For me it’s an unbelievable achievement, it’s amazing,” said the 38-year-old Ronaldo. “And of course to score the winning goal, it’s even more special.” Portugal remain two points clear of Slovakia at the top of Group J after a fourth straight win.
Lukaku stars for Belgium
With Courtois back home, Lukaku was named skipper again and responded by scoring two goals in a 3-0 success which helped Belgium stay second in Group F.
Austria remained three points clear in first place, albeit having played a game more than Belgium, as Christoph Baumgartner scored twice in the last 10 minutes to clinch a 2-0 win over Sweden.
Norway’s Haaland two good
Haaland’s brace helped Norway bounce back from their dramatic defeat to Scotland at the weekend with a 3-1 victory against Cyprus.
That kept their slim hopes of reaching a first major tournament since 2000 alive, although they only sit third in Group A and just one point ahead of Spain having played two games more than the three-time champions. Poland fell to fourth place in Group E after blowing a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 to Moldova in Chisinau.
Moldova, who had won only one of their last 43 Euro and World Cup qualifying matches, appeared to have been safely dispatched by first-half goals from Arkadiusz Milik and Robert Lewandowski.
But Ion Nicolaescu’s double left Poland reeling and Vladyslav Baboglo, who plays his club football for Ukrainian team Oleksandriya, headed past Wojciech Szczesny to score a dramatic 85th-minute winner.
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