PARIS: Cristiano Ronaldo scored a penalty and an overhead kick as Portugal thrashed Poland 5-1 thanks to a rampant second-half display to guarantee a place in the Nations League quarter-finals on Friday.

Roberto Martinez’s Portugal wrapped up top spot in Group A1 with a game to spare, securing their place in the next round in March.

Already-qualified Spain beat Denmark, while Scotland had their first win in nine games to keep alive their hopes of staying in the tournament’s top tier.

Spain, who had already secured first place in Group A4, beat Denmark 2-1 in Copenhagen, and in the same group Serbia grabbed a late equaliser in Switzerland to condemn the Swiss to relegation into the second tier.

France, Germany and Italy are also already through to the last eight. The games will be held from March 20-23. The eight teams are also guaranteed a spot in Pot 1 for the qualifying draw for the 2026 World Cup.

Poland were the better side early on but failed to take their chances in Porto and the home side made them pay, netting four times in the last 20 minutes.

“We couldn’t impose ourselves on the game in the first half,” said Portugal goalscorer Rafael Leao. “[Coach] Roberto Martnez’s approach in the locker room was important; it was the key to changing the pressure at half-time.”

Leao headed wastefully over from Bruno Fernandes’ cross and Ronaldo volleyed over from close range shortly before the interval, as Portugal failed to register a shot on target in the first half.

Dominik Marczuk almost broke the deadlock in the 58th minute, but Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa produced a brilliant fingertip save to deny him.

The hosts broke from the resulting corner to score less than 60 seconds later, as Leao powered forward before finding Nuno Mendes, then continuing his run to meet the Paris St Germain full-back’s cross with a powerful header.

Portugal were awarded a penalty when Diogo Dalot’s strike flicked off Jakub Kiwior’s hand at point-blank range and was saved by Marcin Bulka.

Ronaldo stepped up to dink home a ‘Panenka’ spot-kick.

That goal ended any hopes Poland had of staging a comeback and Fernandes added a third for Portugal with 10 minutes left, crashing the ball in off the crossbar from just outside the box.

Pedro Neto also got on the scoresheet, collecting Ronaldo’s pass and rifling past Bulka at his near post.

There was still time for Ronaldo to double his tally and move onto 135 international goals, acrobatically volleying home Vitinha’s cross from close range in the 87th minute.

Marczuk drilled in a consolation for Poland, but they can no longer qualify for the knock-out stages and will be relegated if they lose to Scotland next week.

Scotland had their first win in nine games with a late John McGinn goal giving the home side the slimmest of wins over a 10-man Croatia.

Petar Sucic was sent off in the first half, but Croatia almost hung on for the point they needed to qualify with Portugal, only for McGinn to strike in the 86th minute to the delight of the Hampden Park crowd.

The result left Scotland with two points and Poland with four.

Denmark had not beaten Spain since European champions 1993 and got off to a bad start when Mikel Oyarzabal took advantage of poor defending to give the visitors the lead after 15 minutes.

Villarreal forward Ayoze Perez, who only made his international debut in June, doubled Spain’s advantage with a low, left-footed finish into the bottom corner after being picked out by Dani Olmo.

Gustav Isaksen pulled one back for Denmark late on, pouncing on a terrible mix-up between Fabian Ruiz and ‘keeper David Raya.

“A very, very happy night for me (with a goal and an assist), but the most important thing is going through top of the group,” Perez told uefa.com.

The Danes are in second place with seven points, two ahead of Serbia. The sides meet in Leskovac on Monday. Last-place Switzerland will drop to League B.

In Zurich, Zeki Amdouni put Switzerland ahead after 79 minutes and looked to be on course for their first win in the tournament.

Gregor Kobel saved a penalty from Serbia’s Aleksandar Mitrovic early in the second half but with three minutes left, Serbia broke upfield and Aleksa Terzic provided the finish to level the scores.

ROMANIA-KOSOVO ABANDONED

The Group C2 match between Romania and Kosovo was suspended in stoppage time and later abandoned with the score 0-0 in Bucharest. There were scuffles between players from both teams and Kosovo players walked off the pitch.

European football body UEFA did not explain why the game was cut short but Kosovo players were reportedly upset at hearing pro-Serbian slogans.

After historic tensions were heightened by the 1990s Balkans conflicts, in 2008 majority ethnic Albanians in Kosovo declared independence for the former Serbian province. Serbia refuses to recognise that independence and considers Kosovo the cradle of its statehood.

Games involving Kosovo, Albania and Serbia have been a tinder box in recent years.

In Group C3, Northern Ireland took a big step closer to promotion to League B with a 2-0 win at home over Belarus. Daniel Ballard’s goal five minutes into the second half put Northern Ireland ahead and Dion Charles doubled their lead 13 minutes later to take them on to 10 points.

Martin O’Neil’s men just need a point in Luxembourg on Monday to guarantee promotion to League B.

Bulgaria beat Luxembourg 1-0 away from home and are in second place with eight points. They face Belarus, who have six, on Monday.

In League D, San Marino kept their hopes of an unlikely promotion alive as Nicola Nanni scored an injury-time penalty to grab a 1-1 draw with Gibraltar.

Gibraltar sit atop Group D1 with six points, two ahead of San Marino and four clear of Liechtenstein, albeit having played one game more. With one game to go, all three teams are still in contention for promotion to League C.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2024