Oct 16,2024
Isaac Price's hat-trick powered Northern Ireland to a stunning 5-0 win over Bulgaria that sent them top of their Nations League group.
After battering Belarus without reward in the opening 45 minutes of Saturday’s goalless draw, 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 over Liechtenstein in March 2007.
After the Standard Liege forward got the opening two, Brodie Spencer’s shot hit a post and rebounded in off 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 League C Group 3 by one point before facing those two teams in their final games next month.
Bulgaria arrived in Belfast unbeaten in nine games under manager Ilian Iliev, including a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland in Plovdiv last month, but that came to a sudden halt as Michael O’Neill’s men made it four wins in their last five at Windsor Park.
Group rivals Luxembourg registered their second successive point after a 1-1 draw in Belarus.
Scotland secured their first Nations League point with a gutsy goalless draw against Portugal at Hampden Park.
Much of the interest centred on the visitors' striker Cristiano Ronaldo whose every involvement brought boos, jeers or cheers from the Tartan Army.
And while Roberto Martinez’s side, who arrived top of League A Group 1 with nine points from nine, dominated the ball, the 39-year-old and his team-mates were profligate in front of goal while the home side defended for their lives.
Steve Clarke’s side had lost their first three fixtures and a point and a clean sheet against a top-tier nation will go a long way to restore confidence ahead of the double-header against Croatia and Poland next month.
Midfielder Scott McTominay missed a great chance in the fourth minute when he headed an Andrew Robertson cross straight at keeper Diogo Costa, who also saved a half-decent effort from Ryan Christie.
Francisco Conceicao also shot high over veteran keeper Gordon's bar after being set up by Ronaldo before an in-swinging Bruno Fernandes corner hit the outside of the post and went behind.
Ronaldo missed the target with another effort in the 82nd minute. It was just not his night and he looked unhappy at the end.
Scotland retreated in the final stages but remained determined to hold out with Gordon making a great save from Fernandes’ powerful close-range effort, before an intruder ran on the pitch and aimed for Ronaldo before he was rugby tackled by a steward to further cheers from the fans.
Croatia remain second in Group A1 after they drew 3-3 against Poland in Warsaw following visiting goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic's second-half dismissal for bringing down Robert Lewandowski.
Piotr Zielinski gave Poland a flying start, but Croatia responded with first-half goals from Borna Sosa, Petar Sucic and Martin Baturina to lead 3-1.
Nicola Zalewski reduced the deficit for Poland before half-time and Sebastian Szymanski fired their equaliser before Croatia were reduced to 10 men.
Spain sealed their place in the League A quarter-finals after a comfortable 3-0 win against 10-man Serbia in Cordoba.
The defending champions sit three points clear at the top of Group A4 and reached the knock-out stages with two games still to play, in Denmark and at home against Switzerland next month.
Aymeric Laporte headed Luis de la Fuente's side, unbeaten in this season’s tournament, into an early lead before Alvaro Morata, who also missed a penalty, and Alex Baena scored in the second half.
Baena struck with a free-kick after Serbia’s Strahinja Pavlovic saw his yellow card upgraded to red by VAR after his foul on Mikel Oyarzabal.
Denmark remain second in the group after Manchester United’s Christian Eriksen struck a second-half equaliser to secure a 2-2 in Switzerland.
Remo Freuler’s first-half opener for Switzerland was cancelled out by Gustav Isaksen and after Zeki Amdouni’s penalty had put the hosts back in front, Eriksen fired a second leveller.
Romania made it four straight wins to stay clear at the top of Group C2 after winning 2-1 in Lithuania and Kosovo consolidated in second place by beating Cyprus 3-0 in Pristina.
