Cristiano Ronaldo on Tuesday marked his 200th international appearance with the winner as Portugal beat Iceland 1-0 in UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying.
Elsewhere, Belgium brushed aside the Thibaut Courtois captaincy row by seeing off Estonia 3-0 thanks to a Romelu Lukaku double in Tallinn and Moldova came from two goals down to stun Poland 3-2.
Portugal appeared to be heading toward a drab goalless draw in Reykjavik until Willum Thor Willumsson was sent off late on.
Photo: EPA-EFE
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 the video assistant referee.
“For me it’s an unbelievable achievement, it’s amazing,” the 38-year-old Ronaldo said. “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.
Slovakia, who are Portugal’s next opponents in September, won 1-0 away to Liechtenstein to stay unbeaten.
Luxembourg gave their unlikely bid to reach a maiden major tournament a boost with a brilliant 2-0 away victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina to move third, just three points behind Slovakia.
The top two from each group qualify automatically for next year’s finals in Germany.
Austria remained three points clear in first place in Group F, albeit having played a game more than second-placed Belgium, as Christoph Baumgartner scored twice in the last 10 minutes to clinch a 2-0 win over Sweden.
Erling Haaland’s brace helped Norway bounce back from their dramatic defeat by 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.
Group leaders Scotland were not blown off course by a near two-hour interruption caused by heavy rain as they maintained their 100 percent record with a 2-0 win over Georgia.
Hungary moved top of Group G by cruising past Lithuania 2-0, level on points with Serbia after their 1-1 draw with Bulgaria, while Albania beat the Faroe Islands 3-1 in Group E.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
RSS