Record-breaking night for Ronaldo, Kane

The European 2024 qualifiers started on Thursday, March 23, and it was a record-breaking night for the two-star striker. Harry Kane scored a penalty to become England’s top scorer with 54 goals, while Cristiano Ronaldo was named in Portugal’s squad, his 197th international cap, the most in history.

Also, England beat Italy 2-1 in Naples, their first win at the Gli Azzurri in 61 years, while Roberto Mancini’s side lost their first European qualifier in 41 games.

After the departed Fernando Santos, Ronaldo’s semi-final loss to Morocco, Martinez and Ronaldo could not have asked for an easier start than against 198th-ranked Liechtenstein. , which is currently at 120.

Joao Cancelo opened the scoring in the eighth minute, but it was an impressive first half. Bernardo Silva scored two minutes into the second half. Ronaldo then took over, scoring from the penalty spot in the 51st minute, and added a second with a free kick in the 63rd minute to confirm a thrilling victory.

England had to play the final 10 minutes of their encounter against Italy with 10 men after the referee showed Luke Shaw two quick yellow cards. In the 78th minute, Serbian referee Srdan Jovanovic gave away the first for wasting time from a throw-in, and two minutes later, Shaw was shown a second for a clear foul to end Italy’s attack.

Declan Rice scored England’s first goal in the 13th minute from inside the box after Kane’s shot was cleared. Kane scored a history-making goal from the spot in the 44th minute and the Three Lions should have added a third a minute later, but Jack Grealish mercifully got the goal wide wrong.

Italian debutant Mateo Retegui dragged the European champions back into the game in the 56th minute when he latched on to Lorenzo Pellegrini’s pass and slotted past Jordan Pickford.

Italy forced the English goal but did not create as many chances to score as they would have liked, although Roberto Mancini sent on Matteo Politano, Bryan Cristante, Wilfried Gnonto, Sandro Tonali, and Gianluca Scamacca two minutes from time. The referee added five minutes, but England held on to win to boost morale.

Afterwards, Kane spoke about the emotions that came over him after breaking Wayne Rooney’s record. “I was on the field when Wayne [Rooney] broke the record and I know what it means to people and how proud I am. When I presented him with the boot for breaking the record, he told me that he would give it back to me one day. He was a very special man, and an English legend.

Result

Kazakhstan 1 – 2 Slovenia

Italy 1 – 2 England

North Macedonia 2 – 1 Malta

Denmark 3 – 1 Finland

San Marino 0 – 2 Northern Ireland

Portugal 4 – 0 Liechtenstein

Slovakia 0 – 0 Luxembourg

Bosnia-Herzegovina 3 – 0 Iceland