Cristiano Ronaldo scores in Portugal rout; Donny van de Beek scores Netherlands equaliser against Spain; Lucas Waldschmidt's early goal seals 1-0 win for Germany against the Czech Republic; France stunned by Finland
Wednesday 11 November 2020 23:05, UK
Michy Batshuayi scored twice as Belgium came from behind to beat Switzerland 2-1 in a friendly ahead of their crucial Nations League clash against England on Sunday.
Batshuayi took his tally to 13 goals in his last 13 international appearances with the double, which maintained Belgium's four-year unbeaten run at home.
Admir Mehmedi put the Swiss ahead early on as Sebastiaan Bornauws attempt at a clearing header served only to set up Mehmedi to hammer the ball home.
Four minutes into the second half, Belgium equalised after a Swiss pass was snapped up by Youri Tielemans, who quickly played it into Batshuayi who turned and finished with aplomb. He had looked offside when the pass was played to him but with no VAR, the goal stood.
Belgium claimed the win when Dodi Lukebakio set up a chance from the left, which was played back into the centre by debutant Thomas Foket for Batshuayi, who was given space to thump the ball home from right in front of goal.
France geared up for their upcoming Nations League games with a 2-0 home defeat against Finland as their 12-match unbeaten streak came to an abrupt end.
Lucas Waldschmidt's early goal was enough for an inexperienced Germany to beat the Czech Republic 1-0.
Joachim Lowe handed debuts to both PSV Eindhoven defender Philipp Max and Wolfsburg defender Ridle Baku and both were involved in the opening goal in the 13th minute. Baku brought the ball to the penalty area, where Florian Neuhaus let fly. Jir Pavlenka saved the effort, but Max set up Waldschmidt with an easy finish from the rebound.
But the home team failed to build on its lead. Baku, Julian Brandt and Nadiem Amiri who came on for the injured Jonas Hofmann all missed chances before the break.
Neuhaus came closest to scoring for Germany after the interval when he struck the crossbar in the 77th minuts before Kevin Trapp made a late save to deny Matej Vydra an equalizer.
Donny van de Beek put his Manchester United troubles behind him to score the equalizer as the Netherlands came from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Spain at the Johan Cruyff Arena.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored once in Portugal's 7-0 rout of Andorra, moving a step closer to becoming the all-time top scorer for a national team.
Ronaldo reached 102 goals with Portugal to sit seven shy of the 109 scored by former Iran striker Ali Daei, the only other male soccer player to surpass the 100-goal milestone for a national team. He made it 6-0 with a close-range header in the 85th minute after having squandered a few good chances.
He had replaced Wolves forward Pedro Neto, who was making his national team debut and opened the scoring for Portugal in the eighth minute. Joo Paulo added to the lead in the 29th and Renato Sanches scored in the 56th.
Paulinho, who was also making his Portugal debut, scored in the 61st minute. An own-goal by Andorra's Emili Garcia in the 76th made it 5-0, and Joao Flix closed the scoring in the final minutes.
Italy were also big winners against Estonia, winning 4-0 at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence. Vincenzo Grifo sent a thunderous effort home to give the hosts the lead in the 14th minute but a similarly well-taken goal from Federico Bernardeschi doubled the lead not long after.
Italy extended their advantage with two second-half penalties. The first was awarded when Roberto Gagliardini was tripped over by Georgi Tunjov, which Grifo dispatched. Riccardo Orsolini then stepped up for the second after he was fouled by Henri Jarvelaid to round off the victory.
Elsewhere, Poland beat Ukraine 2-0, Denmark beat Sweden 2-0, Austria won 3-0 in Luxembourg and Croatia drew 3-3 in Turkey.
