Cristiano Ronaldo to the fore as Portugal thrash Andorra in World Cup qualifying

07 October 2016 22:08

Cristiano Ronaldo scored four World Cup qualifying goals as European champions Portugal humbled nine-man Andorra 6-0 in Aveiro.

The captain reached 65 international strikes with a brace in each half, Joao Cancelo and Andre Silva adding the extras against a team which lost Jordi Rubio and Marc Rebes to red cards.

Kevin Gameiro struck twice as France came from behind to run out convincing 4-1 winners over Bulgaria in Paris.

Dimitri Payet - with a cross-cum-shot - and Antoine Griezmann also got on the scoresheet as France hit back after Mihail Alexandrov's early penalty at the Stade de France.

Quincy Promes starred with two goals as Holland saw off Belarus 4-1 in Rotterdam.

The Spartak Moscow midfielder fired Oranje into a two-goal lead before Alexei Rios pulled one back for Belarus. Further strikes from Davy Klaassen and Vincent Janssen confirmed a home win.

Substitute Valentin Stocker scored a late winner as Switzerland beat Hungary 3-2 in Budapest to make it back-to-back qualifying victories.

It appeared as if Hungary would claim a share of the spoils after Adam Szalai had netted twice to cancel out goals from Haris Seferovic and Ricardo Rodriguez, his first at international level.

But Stocker found the net a minute after his introduction at Groupama Arena as Switzerland built on their impressive win over Portugal.

Emir Spahic's own goal set Belgium on their way to a 4-0 win against Bosnia, with Eden Hazard, Toby Alderweireld and Romelu Lukaku all finding the target in Brussels.

Mikael Lustig's 58th-minute goal settled Sweden's 1-0 victory over Luxembourg, who had Kevin Malget sent off, while Kostas Mitroglou and Petros Mandalos fired Greece to a 2-0 win over Cyprus.

Elsewhere, the Faroe Islands claimed a 2-0 victory in Latvia and Estonia ran out 4-0 victors against Gibraltar.

Source: PA