🇪🇺 Holders France held at home; Wins for Belgium and Portugal | OneFootball

Euro 2020 may not have been played yet but it’s time to start thinking about the next international tournament.

The European qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup started tonight, and here’s what went down.

France 1-1 Ukraine

Scorers: Griezmann 19′; Sydorchuk 57′.

The reigning World champions France were held by Andriy Shevchenko’s Ukraine as they begun the defence of their crown in Paris.

Antoine Griezmann levelled with David Trezeguet in France’s all-time top goalscorers list with his 34th strike for his country to fire them ahead after 19 minutes.

It was a goal testament to the 30-year-old’s quality as well as he received the ball at the corner of the area before curling into the top corner with a delightful left-footed finish.

There was a hint of fortune about Ukraine’s equaliser though as Serhiy Sydorchuk’s effort took a huge deflection off Presnel Kimpembe before rolling into the net.

Kimpembe thought had redeemed himself when he reacted first to a French corner late on but his header went straight down the throat of Heorhiy Bushchan.

Belgium 3-1 Wales

Scorers: De Bruyne 22‘, Hazard 28‘, Lukaku (Pen) 73‘; Wilson 10′.

Belgium came from behind to get their qualifying campaign off to a perfect start after beating Wales 3-1 in Leuven.

Wales had taken a shock lead with a sublime goal courtesy of a beautiful team move which led to Gareth Bale setting up Harry Wilson for a first-time finish.

But Belgium weren’t behind for long and Kevin De Bruyne stepped up to equalise with a textbook driven effort from 25 yards out which rifled into the bottom corner.

Thorgan Hazard then headed Roberto Martinez’s men in front after getting on to the receiving end of Thomas Meunier’s cross.

Romelu Lukaku, the country’s all-time top goalscorer, added his 58th and the third on the night from the penalty spot.

Portugal 1-0 Azerbaijan

Scorers: Medvedev (OG) 37′.

Portugal may be one of the favourites to win the European Championships this summer but they struggled to get past Azerbaijan, who are ranked 72nd in the world.

It was a calamity from Azerbaijan captain Maksim Medvedev which decided the game when he turned João Cancelo’s cross into his own net despite being under no pressure.

But despite boasting the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Bernardo Silva and Bruno Fernandes in the side, Fernando Santos’ failed to edge themselves into a more comfortable lead on the night.

Slovenia 1-0 Croatia

Scorers: Lovric 15′.

2018 runners-up Croatia were shocked in their qualifying opener as Slovenia earned a remarkable shock victory over Zlatko Dalić’s side.

Sandi Lovric gave the hosts a shock lead when he took advantage of some sloppy defending to fire the ball into the bottom corner.

Ivan Perišić thought he had equalised with a low effort in the second half but it was well saved by the hosts’ goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

It’s a fourth straight defeat for the Croats who were in dreadful form in the Nations League before Christmas and now have work to do to catch up in qualifying for the Qatar World Cup.

Turkey 4-2 Netherlands

Scorers: Yilmaz 15′, (PEN) 34′, 81′, Çalhanoğlu 46′; Klaassen 75′, De Jong 76′.

Netherlands suffered a shock 4-2 defeat at the hands of Turkey thanks to a hat-trick from Burak Yilmaz as Frank de Boer’s stuttering start as head coach reached a new low.

The hosts took the lead after 15 minutes when a counter-attack led to Yilmaz’s outside-of-the-boot effort deflecting past Tim Krul, before the striker powered a penalty home for his second.

Matthijs de Ligt’s header looked as if it had crossed the line before being cleared by Okay Yokuşlu but no goal was given with no goal-line technology or VAR on hand to aid referee Michael Oliver.

Hakan Çalhanoğlu seemingly put the game beyond doubt with an effort 25 yards out but the visitors regrouped through goals from Davy Klaassen and Luuk de Jong.

Yilmaz curled home a beautiful free-kick to seal the victory for Turkey before Memphis Depay’s last-minute penalty was saved meaning the Dutch have won just two of their seven games under De Boer since his arrival in September 2020.

Full round-up

Group A

Portugal 1-0 Azerbaijan

Serbia 3-2 Republic of Ireland

Group D

France 1-1 Ukraine

Finland 2-2 Bosnia-Herzegovina

Group E

Belgium 3-1 Wales

Estonia 2-6 Czech Republic

Group G

Turkey 4-2 Netherlands

Gibraltar 0-3 Norway

Latvia 1-2 Montenegro

Group H

Cyprus 0-0 Slovakia

Malta 1-3 Russia

Slovenia 1-0 Croatia