TOPS
The objective had been displayed by Roberto Martinez to his players, it was achieved: Portugal won its tenth victory within Group J and achieved a perfect campaign, a first in its history. Dominated from start to finish, Iceland conceded two goals from Bruno Fernandes (37th) and Horta (66th) to lose (2-0). The Manchester United attacking midfielder was brilliant, as was Joao Felix. Note, however, that Cristiano Ronaldo remained silent, and even expressed his frustration to his teammates at the end of the match.
Scotland were already qualified, and wanted to celebrate their second consecutive qualification for the Euro. Although it was forced into a draw against Norway, without the injured Erling Haaland, the Tartan Army was able to count on broad support from its public who came to thank their players at Hampden Park in Glasgow. McGinn (13th, sp), Ostigard (33rd, CSC) and Armstrong (59th) responded to Donnum (3rd), Larsen (20th), and Elyounoussi (86th), but could not achieve victory for the first time in five meetings. No matter, the main thing was elsewhere this Sunday evening.
FLOPS
Certainly, Spain has assured its place as leader of Group A and will be seeded during the Euro, even if the draw between Scotland and Norway (3-3) had qualified La Roja anyway. But the Spaniards have probably lost Gavi, their young 19-year-old midfielder, for many months. In the twenty-second minute, after contact with the Georgian Loshoshvili, the Barcelona player collapsed to the ground holding his right knee. The Catalan media are already fearing the worst, while the nugget of the Masia seemed to be sticking its tongue out for some time…
Liechtenstein concluded its disastrous campaign by conceding a tenth defeat, against Luxembourg (0-1) on a header from Rodrigues (69th). The German-speaking principality conceded its 23rd consecutive defeat. Worse, for 22 consecutive matches the 199th nation in the FIFA rankings has not found an opening. However, Konrad Funfstuck’s men played 85 minutes in numerical superiority.
