Lamine Yamal became Spain’s youngest ever player and goalscorer as La Roja thrashed Georgia 7-1 on Friday to get their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign back on track. Defeat by leaders Scotland in their second game left Spain fourth in Group A but they climbed up to second with a big win in Tbilisi, inspired by an Alvaro Morata hat-trick.
However despite the Atletico Madrid forward’s treble, the game will be remembered for Yamal’s superb first appearance for his country at 16 years and 57 days old.
The Barcelona teenager came on from the bench with Nico Williams after 43 minutes to replace Marco Asensio and Dani Olmo, who had both suffered knocks, with Spain 4-0 up and cruising. Yamal finished lethally in the 74th minute to send Spain 7-1 up after Williams found him with a cut-back. Spain face Cyprus in Granada on Tuesday in another Euro 2024 qualifier.
France close on Euro 2024 spot, Netherlands win
On Thursday, France took a huge step towards qualifying for Euro 2024 with a 2-0 victory over Ireland, while the Netherlands and Denmark claimed big wins as they eye places at next year’s finals in Germany.
Aurelien Tchouameni and Marcus Thuram scored either side of half-time and France could have added several more goals as they outclassed Ireland at the Parc des Princes in Paris in qualifying Group B. Captain Kylian Mbappe had a goal disallowed for offside and Ousmane Dembele later hit the post for a France side who saw Olivier Giroud limp off with an ankle injury in the first half.
Last year’s beaten World Cup finalists have a maximum 15 points and have yet to concede a goal after five matches in the group, which they lead by a massive nine points from both the Netherlands and Greece.
Ronald Koeman’s Dutch side, who have played just three games, beat Greece 3-0 in Eindhoven with all the goals coming in the first half. Marten de Roon smashed in their opener, Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo made it 2-0 and Wout Weghorst headed in the third on 39 minutes.
Ireland, with just three points after four games, will surely need to beat the Netherlands tomorrow to maintain a realistic chance of going through with the top two teams in each group qualifying.
Elsewhere, Robert Lewandowski scored two late goals as Poland beat the Faroe Islands 2-0 in Warsaw. The veteran Barcelona striker’s first came from the penalty spot on 73 minutes and he added another seven minutes from time. Poland, coached by former Portugal boss Fernando Santos, are third in Group E with six points, two points behind leaders the Czech Republic and one behind Albania. The Czech Republic were held to a 1-1 draw by Albania in Prague.
In Group H, a late Oliver Antman goal gave Finland a 1-0 in Kazakhstan, damaging the Central Asian nation’s hopes of qualifying for a first major tournament. Finland top the group with 12 points, two points ahead of Denmark and Slovenia who both also won on Thursday.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Joakim Maehle, Jonas Wind and Christian Eriksen netted as Denmark defeated San Marino 4-0 in Copenhagen as new Manchester United signing Rasmus Hojlund appeared off the bench in the second half. Andraz Sporar scored twice as Slovenia beat Northern Ireland 4-2 in Ljubljana. A Jonny Evans own goal and a strike by RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko made it a miserable night for the Northern Irish, although Evans did also score at the other end. Northern Ireland have lost four of their five games in the group with the return of Michael O’Neill as manager not having the desired effect.
Meanwhile Hungary are three points clear of Serbia at the top of Group G after coming from behind to win 2-1 in Belgrade. Attila Szalai’s own goal gave Serbia the lead but Barnabas Varga equalised and Willi Orban got the winner. Lithuania drew 2-2 with Montenegro in the same group.