European Qualifiers round-up and highlights: Scotland stun Spain, Croatia beat Türkiye

Scott McTominay was the hero as Scotland stunned Spain in the result of the night, while Croatia also impressed with an away victory against Türkiye.

UEFA.com rounds up the Matchday 2 qualifying fixtures as the road to the EURO 2024 finals in Germany now pauses until June.

Tuesday's results

Group A: Georgia 1-1 Norway, Scotland 2-0 Spain
Group D: Türkiye 0-2 Croatia, Wales 1-0 Latvia
Group I: Kosovo 1-1 Andorra, Romania 2-1 Belarus, Switzerland 3-0 Israel

Scotland 2-0 Spain

McTominay scored twice for the second successive game as Scotland's first win against Spain for 39 years moved them three points clear of La Roja at the top of Group A. The Manchester United midfielder struck early in each half, capitalising clinically following fine work by Andrew Robertson for the first goal and Kieran Tierney for the second. Luis de la Fuente's side went closest when Joselu's header hit the crossbar midway through the first period.

Key stat: Scotland's eighth win in ten home games in all competitions (D1 L1) ended Spain's 19-game unbeaten run in European Qualifiers.

Türkiye 0-2 Croatia

Mateo Kovačić also struck twice as Croatia registered their first win in Group D. Dominik Livaković did magnificently to deny both Cengiz Ünder and Kerem Aktürkoğlu in the opening minutes, but the visitors broke the deadlock when Kovačić found the bottom corner from inside the area.

The Chelsea midfielder doubled his and Croatia's tally on the stroke of half-time, prodding into an unguarded net after Mert Günok had saved Mario Pašalić's initial effort. Pašalić almost got his name on the scoresheet in the second half but was thwarted by Günok from point-blank range.

Key stat: Kovačić's goals were his first for Croatia since a 3-2 UEFA Nations League defeat by Portugal in November 2020 – a game in which he also struck twice.

Elsewhere on Tuesday

• Romania and Switzerland both made it six points from six in Group I with victories against Belarus and Israel respectively. Kosovo drew their second game running, allowing Andorra to get off the mark in the section.
• Wales joined Croatia on four points in Group D with a narrow win against Latvia courtesy of Kieffer Moore's goal just before half-time.
• In the day's early kick-off, Georges Mikautadze struck on the hour as Georgia opened their campaign with a point at home to Norway, who had been soundly beaten by Spain on Matchday 1.
• EURO hosts Germany, meanwhile, fell to a 3-2 home defeat by Belgium in their latest friendly outing.

Monday's results

Group B: Netherlands 3-0 Gibraltar, Republic of Ireland 0-1 France
Group E: Moldova 0-0 Czechia, Poland 1-0 Albania
Group F: Austria 2-1 Estonia, Sweden 5-0 Azerbaijan
Group G: Hungary 3-0 Bulgaria, Montenegro 0-2 Serbia

Republic of Ireland 0-1 France

Benjamin Pavard's fine strike ensured Les Blues made it successive wins to start their EURO 2024 qualifying campaign. The 2022 FIFA World Cup runners-up were restricted to few chances in the opening half, but it took just five minutes after the interval for the breakthrough to arrive. Pavard cut out a Josh Cullen pass just outside the Irish area before arrowing a fierce strike into the net via the underside of the bar.

The visitors were indebted to Mike Maignan late on, the France goalkeeper somehow clawing away Nathan Collins' header with just seconds remaining.

Key stat: France have won five successive World Cup and EURO qualifiers without conceding for the first time since November 1981–December 1984.

Netherlands 3-0 Gibraltar

Ronald Koeman's team bounced back from Friday's heavy defeat against France with a one-sided victory in Rotterdam. Memphis Depay's looping header gave the hosts a deserved lead midway through the first half, before Nathan Aké nodded in a second four minutes after the restart.

Gibraltar had to play the majority of the second period with ten men after Liam Walker was shown a straight red card for a high challenge on Netherlands debutant Mats Wieffer, and the Oranje capitalised on their numerical advantage late on as Aké got his second of the game – via a heavy deflection off John Sergeant.

Key stat: Taking his aggregate tally to five against Gibraltar, Depay is the third Netherlands player this century to score five or more goals against a specific opponent, after Robin van Persie (six vs Hungary) and Klaas Jan Huntelaar (five vs San Marino).

Hungary 3-0 Bulgaria

The hosts cruised to an eye-catching win to begin their Group G campaign in style. Marco Rossi's side were irresistible in the opening 45 minutes, Bálint Vécsei slamming in a close-range rebound to break the deadlock early on before talisman Dominik Szoboszlai capped a fine individual display with a sublime free-kick to double the lead.

Martin Ádám stroked a cool third before the interval but despite creating a host of opportunities to extend their advantage after the break, they did not manage to score a fourth.

Key stat: Hungary have won seven of their last eight EURO qualifying matches on home soil.

Elsewhere on Monday

• Austria crushed Azerbaijan on Matchday 1 but found Estonia a tougher nut to crack. The Baltic side took a first-half lead in Linz, but Florian Kainz responded with his first international goal and Michael Gregoritsch won it late on. Elsewhere in Group F, Sweden made some amends for a 3-0 loss to Belgium with a 5-0 home success against Azerbaijan.
• With Moldova holding Czechia, Poland gained some lost ground in Group E, Karol Świderski's finish after 41 minutes enough to earn a home victory against Albania.
• In a contest between neighbours in Podgorica, Serbia got the better of their hosts Montenegro, Juventus forward Dušan Vlahović striking twice in the closing stages.

Sunday's results

Group C: England 2-0 Ukraine, Malta 0-2 Italy
Group H: Kazakhstan 3-2 Denmark, Slovenia 2-0 San Marino, Northern Ireland 0-1 Finland
Group J: Liechtenstein 0-7 Iceland, Luxembourg 0-6 Portugal, Slovakia 2-0 Bosnia and Herzegovina

England 2-0 Ukraine

Two goals in four minutes was enough for England at Wembley as they built on Thursday's victory in Italy with another win. Visitors Ukraine frustrated Gareth Southgate's team for over half an hour before Bukayo Saka's cross found Harry Kane for his 55th international goal, a close-range volley. The Arsenal winger then struck himself with a delicious curling effort from the edge of the penalty area to effectively end the match as a contest. James Maddison went close to a third on his first international start, but England were comfortable winners despite his miss.

Key stat: England have now won 19 of their last 20 EURO qualifying games as well as each of their last 11 at home. They have also scored in each of their last 25 EURO qualifiers.

Elsewhere on Sunday

• Cristiano Ronaldo extended his record tallies for international goals and caps as he struck twice for Portugal in a 6-0 victory in Luxembourg. The 38-year-old marked his 198th outing by scoring twice – taking his Portugal haul to 122 in a match that also featured strikes from João Félix, Bernardo Silva, Otávio and Rafael Leão.
• Italy bounced back from their loss to England with a 2-0 success in Malta, Mateo Retegui notching his second goal for the Azzurri in his second appearance before Matteo Pessina doubled the advantage.
• Iceland enjoyed a landmark result as they prevailed 7-0 in Liechtenstein, the team's biggest winning margin in an official match. Aron Gunnarsson contributed a second-half hat-trick, scoring more goals for his country in 16 minutes than in his previous 100 outings.
• Rasmus Højlund followed up his hat-trick against Finland with the opening two goals for Denmark in Kazakhstan, but the 20-year-old forward finished on the losing side as the hosts plundered three goals in the last 17 minutes to complete a remarkable comeback win.