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In less than a year, Cristiano Ronaldo’s career seemed to be in crisis, but the 38-year-old superstar still stands with Portugal at the opportunity to soon win the right to participate in Euro 2024. The “qualifying kings” of England, France, Belgium and The Scottish “phenomenon” can also win tickets after this October qualifying series.
Ronaldo’s future is uncertain because the five-time Champions League champion said goodbye to European football when he left Man.United last November, and then his Portuguese team was eliminated from the World Cup. early in the 2022 World Cup. A move to Saudi Arabia cannot be a guarantee of success, but Ronaldo has proven that he is far from fulfilling his career goals. On Friday, Portugal (top of Group J, 18 points) can secure its place at next year’s European Championships in Germany, if it beats Slovakia (second in group, 13 points) while Luxembourg (2nd 3, 10 points) cannot win in Iceland.
This will be a personal victory for Ronaldo, who insists his career is not over yet as he has been playing well at Al-Nassr since December last year. Not only was he the catalyst for many of football’s biggest names, such as Neymar and Karim Benzema, to follow into the Saudi Pro League, but he also helped Portugal achieve its best ever performance in a single season. European qualifying campaign with 6 wins after the Group J match . If not hindered by injury, Ronaldo will certainly take the opportunity to repeat his Euro 2016 victory with Portugal.
New Portuguese coach Roberto Martinez will achieve his first achievement, but his departure from the Belgian team after the 2022 World Cup does not seem to have much impact on the “Red Devils’” ability to play in the qualifying round. Domenico Tedesco’s successor still helped Belgium win 4, draw 1 after 5 matches to lead Group F. A ticket to Germany will be in their hands if they win at Austria (second in group, also 13 points) on Friday, regardless of the result of the match against Sweden (currently ranked 3rd, 6 points). then 3 days.
Jude Bellingham and England in the 2-1 win in Italy in the first leg.
Even though England did not need Jude Bellingham to shine too much, they still dominated Group C with 4 wins, 1 draw and 13 points, 6 points more than the following opponents: Italy (just played 4 matches), Ukraine and North Macedonia. England will not play this Saturday, but regardless of the results between Italy – Malta and Ukraine – North Macedonia, just defeat Italy at Wembley 3 days later and the Three Lions will officially have a ticket to Germany.
England won 2-1 at Italy in the first leg. And when the opponent was not stable because of the change on the coaching bench, Roberto Mancini resigned and Luciano Spalletti replaced him with a struggling start, winning 1 and drawing 1. The Three Lions have a Bellingham in a period of strong competition. explode in form. The 20-year-old midfielder continued his impressive start with Real Madrid on Saturday with a brace of goals, equaling Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 10 goals in his first 10 matches for the Spanish team.
Things haven’t gone too smoothly for Kylian Mbappe in what could be his last season at Paris Saint-Germain, but at least the striker is close to qualifying for Euro 2024 with France. Coach Didier Deschamps’ team dominated Group B , winning all 5 matches, 6 points more than the Netherlands (just played 4 matches) and Greece. If France wins at least one point in the Netherlands this Friday and Greece loses at the Irish Republic, Mbappe and his teammates will win tickets to Germany.
But the first and earliest ticket will probably belong to the most surprising name Scotland, the team is in complete control of Group A with 15 points after 5 wins, 6 points more than Spain (4 matches) and 8 points more than third place team Norway. Taking the field this Thursday, as long as they don’t lose in Spain, Scotland will win the right to participate in the European Championship for the second time in history.
