Italy secured a routine 4-0 victory over Malta to keep the pressure on England in Group C of the Euro 2024 qualifiers.
Giacomo Bonaventura opened the scoring for the Italians for his first-ever international goal and Domenico Berardi then scored twice – either side of half-time – before Davide Frattesi added a fourth in added time.
Ukraine picked up an important three points in a bid for their group-stage hopes after they ran out 2-0 winners over North Macedonia.
The Ukrainians had to wait till stoppage time to rubber stamp the points when Oleksandr Karavayev spotted goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski off his line before firing home.
In Group G, Hungary put themselves in the driving seat to qualify from the group after they defeated Serbia 2-1 at home.
Lithuania registered their first win of the qualifiers at the sixth attempt thanks to defender Pijus Sirvys’ double either side of half-time to beat 10-man Bulgaria 2-0.
Three minutes after Adrian Kraev was sent off for a second bookable offence, Lithuania opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time after Sirvys bundled the ball home from a corner and he doubled their advantage 10 minutes after the break to pick up their first three points of the competition.
Paul Smyth opened the scoring for the home side at Windsor Park in superb fashion with his scissor-kick from inside the area and they doubled their advantage six minutes later through Josh Magennis before adding a third – nine minutes from time – when Conor McMenamin netted his first international goal from close range.
Slovenia strengthened their grip on qualifying following a 3-0 rout over Finland.
Denmark stayed level on points with Slovenia to occupy the top two spots after they earned a 3-1 win over Kazakhstan.
Jonas Wind opened the scoring in Parken when he bundled home from close range and Robert Skov added a second before he latched onto Christian Eriksen’s through ball to slot home Denmark’s third.
