Mbappe leads France rout, Ronaldo injured in Portugal draw

Paris (AFP) – Mesmerising Kylian Mbappe led France’s rout of Iceland in Euro 2020 qualifiers Monday, but Cristiano Ronaldo hobbled off in Portugal’s disappointing draw with Serbia and racist abuse overshadowed five-star England in Montenegro.

Mbappe scored one and set up two more as the reigning world champions crushed Iceland 4-0 at the Stade de France to move top of Group H in Euro 2020 qualifying.

The result gives France, 4-1 winners over Moldova in their Euro opener, six points from their first two matches and puts them ahead of Turkey, who also won 4-0 on Monday, on goal difference.

Samuel Umititi, Olivier Giroud, Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann all scored as Iceland struggled to cope with a totally dominant France side.

Giroud’s 35th France goal moved him into third on the all-time list of French scorers, the Chelsea striker now trailing only Michel Platini (41) and Thierry Henry (51).

In Group A, England, fresh from a 5-0 demolition of the Czech Republic in which Raheem Sterling hit a hat-trick, were forced to come from behind in a 5-1 win over Montenegro.

But another impressive victory for the Three Lions was overshadowed by allegations of racist abuse in Podgorica.

Sterling celebrated the visitors’ fifth goal by cupping his ears towards the home fans.

“Best way to silence the haters (and yeah I mean racists),” Sterling tweeted alongside a photo of his celebration.

England manager Gareth Southgate said he heard racist chants aimed at Danny Rose and promised to report the issue to UEFA.

“I definitely heard abuse at Danny Rose when he got booked at the end of the game. There is no doubt in my mind it happened. We will make sure that is reported to UEFA because it’s not acceptable,” said Southgate. “We’ve got to make sure we support our players.”

– English comeback –

Marko Vesovic stunned England early on, but after drawing on their two previous visits to Podgorica, England showed why their current crop are among the favourites to be European champions next year.

Michael Keane’s header restored parity before Ross Barkley’s double either side of half-time put the visitors in command and Harry Kane and Sterling rounded off a comprehensive victory.

It was a different story in Lisbon as Fernando Santos’ reigning European champions Portugal, held to a 0-0 draw at home by Ukraine in their Group B opener, notched up a second draw, 1-1 at home to Serbia.

from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2Ty0v3W