PARIS
\nCristiano Ronaldo marshalled Portugal past Switzerland in the Nations League on Sunday as Gavi made history becoming Spain\u2019s youngest ever scorer. Ronaldo scored two goals in four first half minutes and had a third ruled offside by VAR as Portugal crushed Switzerland 4-0 in Lisbon. The Manchester United striker had set up William Carvalho for the opener with Joao Cancelo completing the rout to fire Portugal to the top of League A, Group 2, on goal difference from the Czech Republic.
\nIn Prague, Jakub Pesek put the hosts in front before Gavi levelled with a low curling left-footer at the record age of 17 years and 304 days just before halftime. Jan Kuchta had the Czechs back in control with a delicate chip but Athletic Bilbao defender Inigo Martinez headed home in the final minute to salvage a 2-2 draw.
\n\u201cIt is wonderful to be able to say that we are disappointed to lose points against Spain,\u201d said Czech captain Tomas Soucek. \u201cWe showed heart and great teamwork. If somebody told us that we would have four points before these two games, we would have taken it. We have started well and look forward to the next games.\u201d
\n\u201cWe lacked fluency so the game was really tough\u201d shrugged Spain coach Luis Enrique. Martinez conceded it wasn\u2019t Spain\u2019s \u201cfinest\u201d match. \u201cWe came away with a point, but the aim was to win. When you don\u2019t win, when you have great difficulties, you come away disappointed.\u201d
\nSpain reached the final of last year\u2019s Nations League, beating European champions Italy in the semis before losing to France, and they enjoyed a relatively smooth qualification for the World Cup.
\nBut they are now on the back foot in this competition and after their opening 1-1 stalemate with Portugal on Thursday are placed third in the group, two points adrift. Elsewhere Northern Ireland extended their winless run in the competition to 12 with a drab goalless draw in Cyprus
\nAnd Georgia are in command at the top of League C Group 4 after dishing out a 5-2 drubbing to Bulgaria while Manchester City\u2019s new headline signing Erling Haaland produced the goals in Norway\u2019s 2-1 win in Sweden.
\nThe Norwegians top League B, Group 4 after two wins from Serbia, 4-1 winners over Slovenia. On Monday world champions France have their second run out in Split against Croatia with Kylian Mbappe one of several kep components of Didier Deschamps\u2019 team to skip eve-of-match training. The Paris Saint-Germain forward came off with a left knee niggle at half-time of Friday\u2019s 2-1 loss by last year\u2019s Nations League winners to Denmark at the Stade de France.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS Cristiano Ronaldo marshalled Portugal past Switzerland in the Nations League on Sunday as Gavi made history becoming Spain\u2019s youngest ever scorer. Ronaldo scored two goals in four first half minutes and had a third ruled offside by VAR as Portugal crushed Switzerland 4-0 in Lisbon. The Manchester United striker had set up William Carvalho […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-265051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n