Cristiano Ronaldo on Sunday scored his 99th international goal as reigning champions Portugal secured their place at UEFA Euro 2020 with a 2-0 victory away to Luxembourg, while France also ended their qualifying campaign with a victory.
Bruno Fernandes struck the opening goal on 39 minutes before Ronaldo tapped in a scrappy second late on to clinch second place in Group B behind winners Ukraine, who drew 2-2 in Serbia.
Iran striker Ali Daei holds the world record with 109 international goals scored in 149 appearances between 1993 and 2006.
Photo: AFP
“All records must be broken and I will beat that record,” Ronaldo said.
Portugal became the 17th nation to qualify for next year’s tournament, which kicks off in Rome on June 12.
“We can’t give the match high marks for style,” said Portugal coach Fernando Santos, who admitted the heavy pitch made life challenging for his team. “I’m very happy for my players because the qualifying campaign has been more difficult than we expected. We’re through to the finals of a major tournament for an 11th straight time. You’ve got to believe in these players.”
Portugal knew they would book their place at Euro 2020 with a win or by matching Serbia’s result in their game in Belgrade, but they were made to work hard by a Luxembourg team ranked 96th in the world that notably held France to a 0-0 draw in qualifying for last year’s FIFA World Cup.
Sporting midfielder Fernandes broke the deadlock before halftime, controlling Bernardo Silva’s pinpoint pass expertly before lashing in.
Ronaldo, who scored a hat-trick in Thursday last week’s 6-0 thrashing of Lithuania, moved to the brink of his international century four minutes from time.
Silva’s far-post cross was forced toward goal by Diogo Jota, with Luxembourg goalkeeper Anthony Moris getting a hand to the ball before Ronaldo turned in from the goal-line.
World champions France wrapped up top spot in Group H as goals from Corentin Tolisso and Antoine Griezmann sealed a 2-0 win over Albania in Tirana.
“I’m very dependent on the players,” World Cup-winning coach Didier Deschamps said after his 100th game in charge of France. “It’s a personal pride, but it’s good to see what the players do together. At times, it can be a bit more difficult with changes to the players, injured players, but the spirit is there.”
The French national anthem was roundly booed before kick-off as retribution for the error that saw the Andorran anthem played instead of the Albanian one when the teams met in September at the Stade de France.
The visitors made a quick start on the pitch, though, as Bayern Munich midfielder Tolisso headed Griezmann’s free-kick into the bottom corner.
The Barcelona star slotted in the second himself on the half-hour mark, before the dead rubber petered out in the second period, with Olivier Giroud going closest to a third goal by striking the post.
The other games in the group saw Turkey, who had also already sealed qualification, beat Andorra 2-0, while Iceland won 2-1 in Moldova.
England rounded off an impressive campaign with a 4-0 thrashing of Kosovo.
Goals from Harry Winks, Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and Mason Mount ensured England finished at the Group A summit, having scored 37 goals in just eight matches.
“We know there is still a bit of work to do, but I can’t fault the players in this campaign, they’ve been ruthless. We’re more settled with the group now,” England manager Gareth Southgate said.
The Czech Republic are also through, despite losing 1-0 in Bulgaria.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but