Nations League: Cristiano Ronaldo takes Portugal into quarters; Spain down Denmark

LISBON: Portugal sealed a Nations League quarter-final berth after a Cristiano Ronaldo double with a penalty and an overhead kick helped them hammer visiting Poland 5-1 in Group A1 on Friday.

Rafael Leao broke the deadlock just before the hour with a header before Ronaldo doubled the lead from the spot in the 72nd minute with a confident strike down the middle of the goal.

The hosts then scored three goals in eight minutes through Bruno Fernandes, Pedro Neto and Ronaldo's clever strike before Dominik Marczuk got a consolation for Poland in the 88th.

"The first half was very bad for what we wanted to do, we lost focus and got frustrated. But the second half was the best I've seen," said Portugal coach Roberto Martinez.

Unbeaten Portugal top the group with 13 points, six ahead of Croatia, who lost 1-0 away to a Scotland side who are still bottom but now level on four points with third-placed Poland.

Poland host Scotland on the final matchday on Monday when Portugal travel to Croatia.

Portugal, who snapped Poland's two-year unbeaten home run when they won the reverse fixture in Warsaw 3-1 last month, had trouble taming the visitors in the first half.

Poland were without their all-time top scorer Robert Lewandowski, who is sidelined with a back injury, but were quick to create danger and had three attempts on target before the break compared to none by the hosts.

Bartosz Bereszynski was close to opening the scoring in the 12th minute but Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa was in the right spot to catch his header before he had to stretch to deny Krzysztof Zalewski's powerful shot from the edge of the box.

Both Leao and Ronaldo sent good chances above the bar just before the break before the tables turned for Portugal after the restart.

Clearly fired up, the hosts dominated possession and Leao recovered the ball inside their own box before he raced through the pitch to find Nuno Mendes on the left flank who then set the forward up with a perfect lofted pass.

Portugal were then awarded a penalty for a handball, expertly converted by Ronaldo, as they continued growing in strength and Fernandes struck from a distance to make it 3-0 when the ball bounced in off the inside of the bar.

Neto added another one in the 83rd minute, scoring inside the near post, before Ronaldo netted his 135th goal for the national side with an acrobatic finish in the 87th.

Distraught Poland pulled a late goal back through halftime substitute Marczuk, who scored his first international goal.

The 2019 winners Portugal, who dropped their first points last time out when they were held to a goalless draw in Scotland on Oct. 15, secured a fourth successive top-two finish in the competition.

Spain's Mikel Oyarzabal and Ayoze Perez scored to secure a 2-1 victory over hosts Denmark on Friday and clinch top spot in Nations League Group A4 after they secured a place in the quarter-finals last month.

Spain were missing several players from the 2-1 victory over England in the Euro 2024 final but opened the scoring with a strike from inside the box by Oyarzabal after 15 minutes with Perez extending their lead on the counter in the 58th.

A mistake by Spain substitute Fabian Ruiz gifted Denmark's Gustav Isaksen a late consolation after a poor pass back.

With one round left, Spain have 13 points, six ahead of Denmark, with bottom side Switzerland relegated after a 1-1 draw with Serbia left them on two points. Serbia have five points.

The Danes travel to Serbia on Monday needing at least a draw to secure second place and a spot in the quarter-finals.

With Spain's place in the knockouts already secured after a 3-0 home win against Serbia last month, the European champions maintained their imperious form despite missing Dani Carvajal and Rodri due to serious knee injuries and with key players like Lamine Yamal and Robin Le Normand also absent.

Luis de la Fuente's depleted Spanish side started the game well with forward Perez missing a great chance from a corner in the eighth minute and hitting the bar four minutes later.

After the visitors piled on the pressure, they finally took the lead when a mistake by Denmark's defence handed the ball to Dani Olmo who combined with Perez to provide an assist for Spain's Euro 2024 final hero Oyarzabal to fire the opener.

Spain wasted several chances to extend their lead before Olmo finally found Perez who ghosted behind the defence and beat the offside trap before slotting home inside the right post.

Denmark battled to get back into the game and Fabian Ruiz's back pass put goalkeeper David Raya under pressure with Isaksen, who had hit the post in the 78th minute, pouncing to score.

Scotland forward John McGinn came off the bench to snatch a 1-0 home victory over 10-man Croatia for his country's first Nations League win of the campaign in their penultimate Group A1 game on Friday and keep them in contention for the quarter-finals.

Croatia remain on seven points behind Portugal, who clinched top spot and a place in the last eight with a 5-1 home win over Poland to reach 13 points. Croatia can guarantee a place in the quarters with a point at home to the Portuguese on Monday.

Scotland are still bottom but are now level on four points with third-placed Poland, who they visit on Monday needing a win to have any hope of making the last eight. It was Steve Clarke's side's first victory in all competitions for 11 games.

Croatia dominated the first half and will rue their missed chances before midfielder Petar Sucic was dismissed for a second yellow card in the 44th minute after barging into John Souttar.

Croatia captain Luka Modric was booked for arguing with the referee, meaning he will miss Monday's game against Portugal.

McGinn had the Tartan Army roaring with his 86th minute goal -- his 19thl for Scotland -- after Ben Doak, who was terrific in the second half, beat his man before launching a cross that Kotarski punched away only for McGinn to fire home.

Scotland's victory at Hampden Park ended their all-time worst run of 10 competitive fixtures without a win.

Clarke's Scotland team had endured a Nations League campaign to forget with three straight losses before holding visiting Portugal to a 0-0 draw and then beating Croatia.

The first half showed no signs of Scotland heading for a victory as Croatia dominated but it ended with the visitors a man down and failing to score, including from Andrej Kramaric's shot that goalkeeper Craig Gordon stuck out a leg to stop.

Scotland almost gifted Croatia a goal early on when Kenny McLean sent a pass back to the feet of Kramaric, who shot wide.

The home side pressed Kotarski into action midway through the first half when 19-year-old Doak laid the ball off to Scott McTominay whose shot from the edge of the 18-yard-box was saved.

Clarke's men showed patience in the second half and a breakthrough felt inevitable as they peppered the visitors' goal with shots as Doak enjoyed a breakout night by running circles around Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol.

There will be a thrilling finale to the group, with Scotland aiming to leapfrog Croatia into second with a victory in Poland.

Switzerland remained winless in this year's Nations League and they were relegated to the second tier League B after Serbia held them to a 1-1 draw on Friday, with Zeki Amdouni's opener cancelled out by Aleksa Terzic's late strike.

The Swiss will finish bottom of Group A4 with just two points from five matches.

Serbia kept their hopes of advancing to the next round alive, sitting third on five points, two shy of Denmark, who lost 2-1 at home to leaders Spain.

After missing several chances to open the scoring, Amdouni curled in a fine half-volley in the 78th minute to hand Switzerland the lead before Terzic equalised following a counter-attack 10 minutes later.

The visitors had squandered a golden chance to take the lead early in the second half as leading scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic's penalty kick was saved by Swiss goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.

Serbia keeper Djordje Petrovic was also crucial in denying Switzerland the lead with key saves from attempts by Amdouni and Edimilson Fernandes.

Switzerland will close the group stage visiting Spain on Monday, while Serbia host Denmark. Agencies

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