The European teams are playing the first two days of the Euro 2024 qualifier these weeks, and today we have had several very important details. The highlight of the day was the Italy-England match, with locals looking to redeem themselves after failing to qualify for the World Cup and England wanting to show their true potential. They also played Portugal, Denmark and Finland, among others. These are the reactions on Twitter to the first day of the qualifier:
Starting with the main game, England have achieved their first victory in the group stage, and with this they take a giant step towards winning the group since Italy is the other candidate to do so. Those from Southgate went 0-2 in the first half and dedicated themselves to preserving the result.
The highlight of the match stars Harry Kane, who has become the top scorer in the history of England:
Ladies and gentlemen, with all of you, the greatest goalscorer in the history of England.
HARRY KANE 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/fetBMa7J4t
— Relevo (@relevo) March 23, 2023
OFFICIAL!! Harry Kane is ALREADY the TOP ALL-TIME SCORER (54) for the England National Team. At 29 years of age, he broke the record of the legendary Wayne Rooney (53). Forever in the golden book of the English team. THE HURRIKANE. pic.twitter.com/PJC30gB2HM
– Undefeated (@InvictosSomos) March 23, 2023
In addition, in the second half Luke Shaw saw the red card, so he will not be able to play the next game and his national team break has ended ahead of schedule. The highlight of the kick for the Italian side is the goal by Mateo Retegui, who chose to play for Italy over Argentina and scored in his first game:
Mateo Retegui took 56 minutes to score his first goal with the Italian National Team 🇮🇹. Nothing less than against England 🏴 and in qualifying for the Eurocup. pic.twitter.com/SkqZa9RnCi
— VarskySports (@VarskySports) March 23, 2023
In the match against Portugal, Liechtenstein could do little to avoid a win. Roberto Martínez made his debut as the Portuguese coach and could not have done it better than by winning 4-0. The night turned out great for Cristiano Ronaldo, who after a tough world championship returned to the starting eleven of his team. The striker scored two goals and closed a brilliant record night:
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored a goal for Portugal every year since 2004.
That’s TWENTY years in a row.
Incredible longevity 😳 pic.twitter.com/lkwezuZ3yK
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 23, 2023
HISTORY FOR CRISTIANO RONALDO 🐐
With his start today, he becomes the men’s all-time leader in international caps with 197! pic.twitter.com/2JGqxIUjJc
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 23, 2023
🚨 OFFICIAL
Cristiano Ronaldo becomes the first player to score 100 competitive international goal. 🐐🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/V3IQfoN9s6
— TCR. (@TeamCRonaldo) March 23, 2023
To close the day, the other outstanding game was Denmark-Finland. The Danes ran as one of the surprise teams a couple of years ago but have never been the same since. For much of the match it looked as if Denmark were going to leave with a 1-1 draw, but a star has been born and his name is Rasmus Højlund. In his first game with the senior team he opened the can, scored 2-1 at 80 ‘and closed his hat-trick on the horn.
🇩🇰⭐️ Rasmus Højlund (20) just scored a goal on his first full senior debut for Denmark! Having a promising season with Atalanta also. Bright future. pic.twitter.com/5oNURqmUcE
— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) March 23, 2023
🏆 EURO2024 Qualifying / Group H
📌 MS | 🇩🇰 Denmark 3-1 Finland 🇫🇮
⚽ 21′ Rasmus Hojlund
⚽ 53′ Oliver Antman
⚽ 82′ Rasmus Hojlund
⚽ 90+3′ Rasmus Hojlund pic.twitter.com/vn5zkrKioS— Skorer (@skorerrcom) March 23, 2023
The bad news of the match comes for FC Barcelona, since Christensen withdrew injured before minute 20 and is being one of the keys to Barcelona’s success.
🚨 Christensen, injured with Denmark
🚑 The Barça central defender had to retire after 18 minutes of the match against Finland pic.twitter.com/28f7vhL3Si
– Sports World (@sportsworld) March 23, 2023