Portugal crush Luxembourg in Euro 2024 qualifiers, Ronaldo absence no issue!
- Rob Fleming
- 12 September 2023
Portugal thrashed Luxembourg 9-0 to extend their perfect start to their Euro 2024 Group J qualifying campaign.
Despite missing Cristiano Ronaldo through suspension, Portugal produced a dominant display at Estadio Algarve – where Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes produced a hat-trick of assists before scoring a late goal himself.
Goncalo Inacio opened the scoring after 12 minutes and a brace from Paris St-Germain forward Goncalo Ramo soon had the home side in complete control.
Inacio headed in a fourth in first-half stoppage time from another pin-point delivery by Fernandes.
Roberto Martinez's side did not let up and, just before the hour, Fernandes found Liverpool forward Diogo Jota, who raced clear to fire home a fifth.
Ricardo Horta added a sixth with 20 minutes left before Jota slotted in again. Fernandes then capped his fine individual display with a well-taken goal late on and Joao Felix completed the rout to make it six wins from six.
Slovakia remain five points behind Portugal after they made a fast start to beat Liechtenstein 3-0 in Bratislava with goals from David Hancko, Ondrej Duda and Robert Mak inside the first six minutes.
Alfred Finnbogason scored in stoppage-time to give Iceland a 1-0 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina in Reykjavik.
Croatia moved top of Group D on goal difference after a 1-0 win in Armenia, where an early strike from Andrej Kramaric proved enough for all three points.
Wales beat Latvia 2-0 in Riga to boost their hopes of reaching next summer's finals in Germany, now three points behind Turkey.
Captain Aaron Ramsey scored his 100th career goal with a first-half penalty and David Brooks wrapped things up with a second in stoppage time to leave Latvia winless from five games.
Monday's Euro 2024 Qualifying results:
Iceland 1-0 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Latvia 0-2 Wales
Portugal 9-0 Luxembourg
Slovakia 3-0 Liechtenstein
Armenia 0-1 Croatia
