‘We achieved our objective’

France Belgium and Portugal all blinked with a Euro 2024 place in their grasps but clung on for onegoal victories on Friday night which made them the first sides to qualify for next yearrsquos tournamentBelgium led by three goals in Vienna and won 32 with 10 men to ensure a toptwo finish in Group F and a ticket to the finals in GermanyMbappe nets twiceFrance led by two Kylian Mbappe goals in Amsterdam and beat the depleted Dutch 21 Cristiano Ronaldo was another to score twice but Portugal also wobbled with a twogoal lead before beating Slovakia 32 in Porto in Group JAlso ReadSpain thrive on lsquobiggest virtuersquo patience v ScotsDidier DeschampsIn Amsterdam Mbappe leapt to hook home a volley after seven minutes and then added a second eight minutes into the second half with a sumptuous curler It was his 42nd international goal overtaking French legend Michel Platini and putting him fourth in the alltime list Quilindschy Hartman replied on his Dutch debut but Mbappe almost clinched his hattrick when his late drive hit the crossbar ldquoWe mustnrsquot get carried away but we must appreciate and not trivialise thingsrdquosaid France coach Didier DeschampsldquoTo qualify with two games to go with six wins 13 goals scored and just one conceded Irsquom very proud of what the group has achieved both in terms of spirit and on the pitchrdquo ldquoWe got the result we wanted we achieved our objectiverdquoGreece won 20 in Dublin to eliminate Ireland and pull clear of the Dutch Giorgos Giakoumakis and Giorgos Masouras scored in the first half for the 2004 European champions who moved three points clear of the Dutch The two nations meet on Monday in AthensCristiano RonaldoBelgium survive scareUnbeaten Belgium survived an Austria fightback in Vienna Dodi Lukebakio with his first two international goals and captain Romelu Lukaku with his ninth of the campaign put Belgium 30 up after 58 minutesKonrad Laimer replied with a longrange drive With Belgium reduced to 10 men when Amadou Onana collected a second yellow card Arthur Theate handled in his own box with six minutes leftMarcel Sabitzer converted the penalty to make it an anxious last few minutes for the Belgians But they held out to secure a third straight trip to the EurosRonaldo moved to 125 international goals as the Portuguese made it seven wins from seven matches in Group J They have 21 points which ensures them a top two finish Goncalo Ramos had opened the scoring for PortugalRonaldo then converted a penalty David Hanckorsquos deflected strike gave Slovakia hopemdashthe first goal Portugal had conceded in qualifyingmdashbut Ronaldo soon tapped in a Bruno Fernandes crossStanislav Lobotkarsquos longrange strike made for a nervy finale but Portugal held onldquoCristiano Ronaldo is having a great time playing a lot of minutes and scoring a lot of goals for his club He has a lot of experience with the national team and hersquos a reference point for young playersrdquo said Portugal coach Roberto MartinezThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever