LUXEMBOURG – Cristiano Ronaldo showed his fiery condition by scoring twice again, to help Portugal crush Luxembourg 6-0 in the away game of the UEFA European Championship qualification round matchday 2.
The legendary superstar is still on top performance at the age of 38, netting four goals in his last two matches, including Portugal 4-0 victory over Liechtenstein last Thursday.
The national team captain collected his goals last night in the 9th and 31st minutes, while Joao Felix, Bernardo Silva, Otavio and Rafael Leao were in the scorers list too.
CR7 who is now serving Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, continued to update his goals record of international competitions with 122 goals.
He has scored a total of 13 goals this year, including four in the Euro 2024 qualifiers and nine in the Saudi league, the most among European players in 2023 so far.
After two consecutive wins, the Euro 2016 winner is now in top of Group J with six points.
Kane and Saka brace England win
In another focused match on Sunday, England defeated Ukraine 2-0 at Wembley Stadium, leading Group C after two wins in a row.
The Three Lions had less trouble to frustrate the visitors, with captain Harry Kane’s 55th international goal and a fantastic long shot from Bukayo Saka in the first half.
Kane continued to update his record as the team England’s top scorer of all time at the age of 29.
After beating the two strongest opponents in the group, including a 2-1 victory over Italy last week, the runner-up of Euro 2020 is having a steady advantage to qualify as the Last 24.
The Englishmen showed a remarkable improvement after the tournament two years ago, with plenty of young players rising up as top class superstars, such as Saka, Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice and Phil Foden.
Italy and Spain Win
Meanwhile, Italy beat Malta 2-0 in the away game, getting their first win in Group C.
Goals from Mateo Retegui and Matteo Pessina helped the defending champion recover from their loss to England in matchday 1.
A day earlier, Spain defeated Norway 3-0 at home in the first round, leading Group A together with Scotland.
The three times Euro Cup winner hailed an easy win with double scores from 33 years old forward Joselu and another goal from Dani Olmo.
The Norwegian were apparently not competitive enough against the Matadors, especially when they lost the fiery striker Erling Haaland due to injury.
Upcoming: France and Netherlands
In the Euro 2024 qualification round matchday 2, France will visit Ireland on Monday night to seek two consecutive wins in Group B.
Les Bleus again counted on captain Kylian Mbapee to maintain his superb performance, scoring twice in their 4-0 win over Netherlands three days ago.
Meanwhile, the Dutch expect three points in the same group in their home game against Gibraltar.
The Orange Squad should have no difficulty to take the world ranking 200 team down.
For more football daily updates news please check it here: 24.Live