CRISTIANO Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe and Romelu Lukaku were all on target tonight to help Portugal, France and Belgium confirm their places at the European Championships, Euro 2024, in Germany next summer.
The all-time top scorer in international football history Ronaldo extended his record to 125 goals with a brace as Portugal defeated Slovakia 3-2 in Porto.
The 38-year-old Al Nassr striker netted Portugal’s second and third goals to earn them a seventh straight victory and book the 2016 champions a place in Germany with three matches to spare in Group J.
Mbappe also scored twice tonight to give France a 2-1 away win against the Netherlands.
The Qatar 2022 World Cup runners-up, who have a perfect record in Group B, eased to the 2024 tournament with two rounds of games still left.
On his part, Lukaku netted Belgium’s third goals as they qualified from Group F with a 3-2 away victory against Austria.
France have not missed a European Championships finals since 1988 and were too good for a Dutch side ravaged by injuries at the Johan Cruyff Arena.
Paris Saint-Germain striker Mbappe, the top scorer at the World Cup last year, volleyed home in the seventh minute from Jonathan Clauss’s perfect cross and made sure of the win eight minutes into the second half.
The brace took the 24-year-old past France legend Michel Platini into fourth place on the national team’s all-time top scorers list with 42 goals, behind Olivier Giroud (54) Thierry Henry (51) and Antoine Griezmann (44). Griezmann was playing a record-extending 81st consecutive game for France.
Also tonight, Republic of Ireland’s lingering hopes of squeezing through in Group B were dashed as they were beaten 2-0 at home by Greece, while Bosnia and Herzegovina revived their flagging campaign in Group J with a 2-0 win in Luxembourg.
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