Euro 2024 Qualifiers: Record-breaking night for Ronaldo, Kane

The 2024 European qualifiers kicked off on Thursday, 23 March, and it was a record-breaking night for two star forwards. Harry Kane scored a penalty to become England’s leading scorer with 54 goals, while Cristiano Ronaldo was named in the Portugal squad, his 197th international cap, the most in history.

Also, England beat Italy 2-1 in Naples, their first win over the Gli Azzurri in 61 years, while the Roberto Mancini-coached side lost their first European qualifier in 41 matches.

After the departed Fernando Santos dropped Ronaldo for the semi-final loss to Morocco, Martinez and Ronaldo could not have asked for an easier re-start than against 198th-ranked Liechtenstein. The Qatar 2022 semi-finalists got the better of their lower-ranked opponents 4-0, with Ronaldo adding a brace to his goals record, which now stands at 120.

Joao Cancelo opened the scoring in the eighth minute, but that was how good it got in the first half. Bernardo Silva scored the second two minutes into the second half. Ronaldo then took over, scoring from the penalty spot in the 51st minute, and added his second with a free kick in the 63rd minute to confirm the comfortable win.

England had to play the last 10 minutes of their encounter against Italy with 10 men after the referee showed Luke Shaw two quick yellow cards. In the 78th minute, the Serbian referee, Srdan Jovanovic, handed out the first for time wastage from a throw-in, and two minutes later, Shaw was shown a second for a blatant foul to stop an Italy attack.

Declan Rice scored England’s first in the 13th minute from inside the box after Kane’s shot was charged down. Kane scored his history-making goal from the spot in the 44th minute and the Three Lions should have added the third a minute later, but Jack Grealish got his range all wrong with the goal at his mercy.

Italy debutant Mateo Retegui dragged the European champions back into the game in the 56th minute when he latched on to a pass from Lorenzo Pellegrini and slotted past Jordan Pickford.

Italy pressured the England goal but did not create as many goal-scoring chances as they wanted, despite Roberto Mancini sending on Matteo Politano, Bryan Cristante, Wilfried Gnonto, Sandro Tonali, and Gianluca Scamacca two minutes from the end. The referee added five minutes, but England held on for a morale-boosting win.

Afterwards, Kane spoke of the emotions that swept through him after breaking Wayne Rooney’s record. “I was on the pitch when Wayne [Rooney] broke the record and I know what it meant to him and how proud I was. When I presented him with the boot for breaking the record, he said to me that he would be giving it back to me one day. He’s a special guy, and an England legend.”