Nations League- Northern Ireland batter Bulgaria, Spain sweep aside Serbia

Isaac Price scores hat-trick in 5-0 win over BulgariaPoland rescue dramatic 3-3 draw against CroatiaAgenciesTue 15 Oct 2024 17.47 EDTLast modified on Wed 16 Oct 2024 07.05 EDTShareIsaac Price’s hat-trick powered Northern Ireland to a stunning 5-0 win against Bulgaria that sent them top of their Nations League group.
After battering Belarus without reward in the opening 45 minutes of the goalless draw on Saturday, Northern Ireland took their frustrations out on Bulgaria as Price became the first Northern Ireland player to hit a treble since David Healy in a 4-1 win against Liechtenstein in March 2007.
Ronaldo-mania hits Hampden but Portugal held by battling ScotlandRead moreAfter the Standard Liège forward got the opening two, Brodie Spencer’s shot hit a post and rebounded in off the Bulgaria goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov to make it 3-0 at the break. Price completed his hat-trick with the best goal of the night, a rising shot from the edge of the box, before Josh Magennis came off the bench to hit a late fifth.
The last time Northern Ireland won 5-0 at home, George Best scored a hat-trick against Cyprus in April 1971. With Belarus and Luxembourg drawing 1-1 in Hungary, Northern Ireland sit top of Group C3 by one point before facing those two teams in their final games next month.
The European champions, Spain, claimed a place in the Nations League quarter-finals with a 3-0 home win against Serbia thanks to goals by Aymeric Laporte, Álvaro Morata and Álex Baena.
With two games left, Spain have secured at least a second-place finish as they top Group A1 with 10 points, three clear of second and six clear of Serbia, with Switzerland bottom on one point after a 2-2 home draw with second-placed Denmark.
Spain were missing several players from the team that defeated England 2-1 in the Euro 2024 final in July but still outclassed Serbia with 30 shots against three from the visitors. The Al Nassr defender Laporte gave the Spaniards the lead with a close-range header in the fifth minute and Morata, who missed a penalty in the 54th minute, extended Spain’s lead with a strike from just inside the box after 65 minutes.
Serbia’s Strahinja Pavlovic was shown a straight red card for a last-man foul on Mikel Oyarzabal on the edge of the area in the 78th minute and Baena curled the free-kick into the top corner to wrap up an easy victory.
View image in fullscreenÁlex Baena completes the scoring for Spain with a fine free-kick. Photograph: Cristina Quicler/AFP/Getty ImagesDenmark’s Christian Eriksen created one goal and scored another to grab a draw against Switzerland.
Switzerland went ahead when Remo Freuler reacted quickest in the box to lash a loose ball past goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel in the 26th minute but the lead lasted just over a minute as Eriksen chipped a quick free kick into the path of Gustav Isaksen, who scored with a first-time left-foot shot.
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The brace of quickfire goals was greeted by a heavy fog rolling in across the pitch, but it did not prevent referee Umut Meler from seeing Switzerland’s Breel Embolo getting hacked down by Patrick Dorgu just before the break and Zeki Amdouni made no mistake from the penalty spot to make it 2-1 for the hosts. Eriksen came to the rescue with a cool, cushioned shot from Pierre-Emile Højbjerg’s lay-off in the 69th minute.
Poland fought back from two goals down to snatch a dramatic 3-3 draw with their visitors Croatia. Croatia, who fell behind early, had taken a stranglehold on the game with three goals in seven first-half minutes but were pegged back and then had the goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic sent off late-on.
The draw left Croatia second in Group A1 on seven points, three ahead of third-placed Poland. Portugal top the group with 10 points with Scotland bottom on one point.
Poland were aggressive from the start with the captain, Piotr Zielinski, scoring the opening goal in the fifth minute from a tight angle. The hosts, however, endured a dramatic collapse as Croatia scored three quick goals, as Borna Sosa’s volley in the 19th minute levelled the match before efforts from Petar Sucic and Martin Baturina put them in command.
Nicola Zalewski scored for Poland just before the break, and Sebastian Szymanski equalised in the 68th minute with a low shot into the left corner. The drama was not finished, however, as Croatia’s Livakovic was sent off for fouling Robert Lewandowski in the 76th minute, yet the hosts failed to capitalise.