England's players celebrating after scoring a goal during the Euro 2020 Group A football qualification match against Bulgaria at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia on Monday — AP KIEV, Oct 15 (Reuters): Ukraine advanced to the Euro 2020 finals after an impressive first half helped them to a 2-1 home win over Portugal, whose talismanic captain Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 700th career goal in a Group B qualifier on Monday.
The result left Ukraine top of the section on 19 points from seven games, eight more than second-placed European champions Portugal who have a game in hand.
Third-paced Serbia are on 10 points from six games after an Aleksandar Mitrovic brace gave them a 2-1 win at Lithuania.
Luxembourg have four points from six games and the Lithuanians prop the group with one point from seven matches.
Meanwhile, France must wait to claim a place at Euro 2020 after the world champions were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Turkey in a high-octane qualifying game on Monday.
Turkey's Kaan Ayhan equalised eight minutes from time after France substitute Olivier Giroud opened the scoring in the 76th as the visitors stayed top of Group H with 19 points from eight games, ahead of Les Bleus due to a 2-0 win in Konya last June.
Iceland are third on 15 points after goals by Arnor Sigurdsson and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson earned a 2-0 home victory over Andorra, with Albania fourth on 12 points following a 4-0 away win against Moldova.
In another match, England bounced back from their first tournament qualifying defeat for 10 years with a 6-0 thrashing of toothless Bulgaria on Monday in a Euro 2020 Group A clash marred by racist incidents in the first half that stopped the game.
The match at the Vasil Levski stadium was temporarily halted by the referee in the first half under a three-step UEFA protocol to tackle racist abuse from the crowd.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
