Portugal’s Diogo Jota celebrates with Rafael Leao, Ruben Dias and Bruno Fernandes after scoring the crew’s fifth aim in opposition to Luxembourg within the Euro 2024 qualifier on September 11, 2023| Photo Credit: Reuters
Portugal did not want Cristiano Ronaldo to rack up its biggest-ever win in a aggressive sport.
A 9-0 rout of Luxembourg in European Championship qualifying on Monday was achieved with out Ronaldo, who was suspended due to an accumulation of yellow playing cards in earlier Group J video games.
In the absence of the five-time world participant of the yr and document scorer in males's internationals, Goncalo Ramos, Goncalo Inacio and Diogo Jota all scored twice together with objectives for Ricardo Horta, Bruno Fernandes and Joao Felix within the Algarve.
“It was a satisfactory aspect that, being 4-0 or 5-0 up, the team kept playing the same way as if it was 0-0,” Portugal coach Roberto Martinez mentioned. "When you get that, it shows you the values of the players and that the respect toward the team is essential — that was really good to see.”
The 38-year-old Ronaldo missed a great chance to add to his haul of 123 international goals but there'll be four more opportunities in a group that Portugal is dominating with six straight wins. No other team has that many victories in qualifying.
Martinez's team stayed five points ahead of Slovakia and moved eight ahead of Luxembourg. The top two in each group qualify automatically.
Ramos scored two of the team's first three goals as Ronaldo's replacement, a role he seems to thrive in.
He did it notably at last year's World Cup in Qatar when — in a huge call by then-coach Fernando Santos — Ronaldo was dropped to the bench for the match against Switzerland in the round of 16.
Ramos scored a hat trick in that game, announcing himself to the football world. He has since completed a move from Benfica to Paris Saint-Germain and might be the long-term replacement for Ronaldo, who now plays in Saudi Arabia, for Portugal's national team that is surely heading to Euro 2024.
Germany's 13-0 thrashing of San Marino in 2006 remains the biggest-ever win in European Championship qualifying.
In other matches in the group, Slovakia beat Liechtenstein 3-0 and Iceland defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0.
In Group D, Croatia's 1-0 win over Armenia in Yerevan was delayed for about 70 seconds in the first half when a drone carrying the flag of Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway Armenian-populated region of Azerbaijan, flew over the field — to cheers and applause from many home fans, according to footage on social media.
The incident comes amid soaring tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, with lawmakers in the region — which the Armenians call Artsakh — voting to elect a new separatist president on Saturday in a move that was strongly condemned by the Azerbaijani authorities.
It is set to lead to a UEFA disciplinary case on the grounds of it being a political statement at a game.
In 2014, a drone with a political banner was flown into the stadium where Albania and Serbia were playing a European Championship qualifier in Belgrade, prompting clashes among players. Serbian fans also attacked Albania team members and threw flares onto the field.
That game was abandoned and Serbia initially awarded a default 3-0 victory by UEFA. The sanction was reversed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Andrej Kramaric's early aim sealed the victory for Croatia that lifted the World Cup semifinalists into first place within the group.
The striker tapped in on the far submit after a Thirteenth-minute nook from Luka Modric deflected off an Armenia participant and went straight to Kramaric, who caught out a foot and diverted the ball in. The aim was checked for offside because it appeared Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol received a contact, too.
After beginning Group D with a disappointing 1-1 dwelling draw with Wales, Croatia has gained three straight matches and gone above Turkey on aim distinction, having performed one sport fewer.
Wales gained 2-0 in Latvia because of objectives by Aaron Ramsey and David Brooks and joined Armenia on seven factors, three behind Croatia and Turkey. It was a relieving win for Wales coach Robert Page, who has confronted rising stress after back-to-back defeats in opposition to Armenia and Turkey within the group.
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