June 19 – Manchester City star Erling Haaland scored on his return to the Norwegian national team but it wasn’t enough as Scotland came back to win 2-1 on Saturday and keep a perfect record in qualifying for next year’s European Championship.
Elsewhere, Bruno Fernandes scored twice in a 3-0 win for Portugal against Bosnia-Herzegovina as Cristiano Ronaldo played his 199th international game, while Belgium were held 1-1 by Austria without the injured Kevin de Bruyne.
After beating Norway, Scotland is the surprise group leader with aims of qualifying for back-to-back European Championships for the first time since 1996.
Haaland, who won the Champions League with his club, opened the scoring for Norway from the penalty spot in the 61st minute but when he was substituted, Scotland seized the lead with two goals in two minutes late on.
Defeat dealt a heavy blow to Norway’s chances of qualifying from Group A while in Group E, Vaclav Cerny scored twice as the Czech Republic beat the Faroe Islands 3-0 to stretch its lead at the top to four points.
Belgium fought back to draw with Austria 1-1 in Group F thanks to an equalising goal from Romelu Lukaku after a deflected shot from Michael Gregoritsch gave the Austrians the lead.
Lukaku was playing as captain in the absence of de Bruyne, who played through a hamstring injury toward the end of the season for Manchester City but had to go off during last week’s Champions League final. Austria stayed top of the group, three points ahead of Belgium having played one more game.
In Group G, with leaders Serbia not in action, second-place Hungary had a chance to go top but fell short in a 0-0 draw with Montenegro while in Group J, Portugal’s victory kept them top after three games.
England beat Italy and Ukraine in their March games to take early control of Group C – and brushed off Malta last Friday while Wales’ shock 4-2 home defeat by Armenia the same night has dented their hopes in Group D ahead of tonight’s crucial visit to Turkey.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1726513916labto1726513916ofdlr1726513916owedi1726513916sni@w1726513916ahsra1726513916w.wer1726513916dna1726513916