Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Jota inspire Portugal to 9-0 rout of Luxembourg
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 Estádio Algarve – where Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes produced a hat-trick of assists before scoring a late goal himself. Gonçalo Inácio opened the scoring after 12 minutes and a brace from Paris Saint-Germain forward Gonçalo Ramos soon had the home side in complete control. Inácio headed in a fourth in first-half stoppage time from another pin-point delivery by Fernandes.
Roberto Martínez’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 João Félix 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.