England hit Montenegro for seven to seal place at Euro 2020.

ENGLAND: Three Lions hit goal trail to seal qualification on landmark occasion

ENGLAND 7 MONTENEGRO 0

Harry Kane’s hat-trick helped Gareth Southgate’s side roar past Montenegro and seal Euro 2020 qualification as England celebrated their 1,000th match in style last night.

Former captains and Three Lions greats were among those in attendance on a landmark occasion at Wembley, where onlookers were not only able to celebrate 147 years of history but enjoy another glimpse at an exciting future.

Southgate’s men sealed progress to the Euro 2020 finals with a match to spare as a rampant first-half display set up a 7-0 win against hapless Montenegro, with Kane’s treble doing the damage in front of Sir Geoff Hurst, a man who knows a thing or two about hat-tricks.

Securing automatic qualification for next summer’s tournament means all of the Three Lions’ group games will be staged at Wembley, where Southgate’s men will believe they can then return for the semis and final.

Southgate is under no illusions about the work still required ahead of the

European Championship, but their fierce performance before the break underlined England’s attacking talent in front of greats such as Paul Gascoigne, Peter Shilton and Wayne Rooney.

The threat on the latter’s all-time scoring record of 53 increased against Montenegro as Kane netted a first-half treble that complemented efforts by Alex Oxlade-chamberlain and Marcus Rashford.

Kane scored two headers and swivelled to fire home a third to takes his tally to 31 goals, seeing him usurp Frank Lampard, Alan Shearer, Nat Lofthouse and Tom Finney in the standings.

Aleksandar Sofranac’s own goal and substitute Tammy Abraham’s first for his country were the only efforts in the second period of a comprehensive win secured with star Raheem Sterling watching from the stands following his high-profile skirmish with team-mate Joe Gomez.

Group A rivals Czech Republic also qualified for the Euros – but did it the hard way by coming back from a goal down to win 2-1 against Kosovo but would have to win their final game in Bulgaria on Sunday and make up a deficit of 24 goals to pip England to top spot.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick inspired Portugal to a 6-0 home win over Lithuania to keep them on course to finish second in Group B behind alreadyqualified Ukraine.

Portugal’s other goals came from Pizzi, Goncalo Paciencia and Bernardo Silva.

Serbia remain a point behind Portugal following a 3-2 home win over Luxembourg as Fulham forward Aleksandar Mitrovic scored twice in the first half to put them in charge.

Gerson Rodrigues pulled a goal back before Nemanja Radonjic restored Serbia’s two-goal advantage.

But a second Luxembourg goal by David Turpel made for nervous final 15 minutes in Plzen.

In the final round of fixtures on Sunday, Portugal visit Luxembourg while Serbia face the tough prospect of a home meeting with group winners Ukraine.

France and Turkey both qualified from Group H following the latter’s 0-0 home draw with Iceland in the early game.

The draw also kept Iceland on course for a possible play-off spot and they will look to win in Moldova on Sunday while fourth-placed Albania take on France at home.

France went top of the group after struggling to a 2-1 home win against Moldova with Raphael Varane and Olivier Giroud sealing a comeback win.

Picture: Getty. Harry Kane scores his third goal as England thump Montenegro to seal their place at Euro 2020.