sport">For Mitrovic it was his 39th goal in the national team. He is now the top scorer of all time for Serbia. Captain Dusan Tadic (Ajax) was replaced by the home team in the 81st minute. Teammate Nikola Milenkovic received the red card from referee Danny Makkelie in extra time.
sport">Dutch arbitration ran into serious trouble in the final seconds in Belgrade. Cristiano Ronaldo seemed to help his team to victory after all. Defender Stefan Mitrovic took the Portuguese captain’s bet out of the goal, but several replays of the TV images showed that the ball had probably just passed the goal line. However, due to the lack of goal-line technology, Makkelie received no signal and partly because of this, he did not award a goal.
sport">Ronaldo reacted furiously to the Dutch arbitration. Makkelie gave him the yellow card for fiercely protesting. Shortly afterwards, the final signal followed and the star of Juventus strode furiously from the field. He angrily threw away his captaincy.
sport">Serbia and Portugal are now both on 4 points in group A. In the same group, Ireland lost painfully to Luxembourg in Dublin: 0-1. Serbia will play against Azerbaijan on Tuesday and Portugal will play in and against Luxembourg.
sport">In group H, Malta surprisingly led 2-0 in the away game against Slovakia (2-2) at half time. It was the first time in 20 years that the islanders scored twice in a qualifying match for World Cup or European Championship.
Lukaku saves point for Belgium
sport">The Belgian national team narrowly played a draw against the Czech Republic in the World Cup qualification. In Prague, the international match ended in 1-1. Both teams therefore have 4 points.
sport">The Czech Republic came to 1-0 in the 50th minute by a hit by Lukas Provod. The Belgians equalized the score 10 minutes later. Romelu Lukaku turned well away from defender Ondrej Celustka and fired in.
sport">Kevin De Bruyne hit the post and shot just wide. Belgium then got away well a number of times. Jan Boril shot hard on the crossbar in the final phase. Substitute Lukas Masopust saw his shot turned by goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. But the rescue of Toby Alderweireld was especially valuable. The defender took a header from Tomas Soucek off the line in injury time.
Romelu Lukaku saved one point.
Ⓒ ANP / HH
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sport">Czech national coach Jaroslav Silhavy could not have four players who play football in the German league. Captain Vladimir Darida (Hertha BSC), goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka (Werder Bremen), defender Pavel Kaderabek (Hoffenheim) and striker Patrik Schick (Bayer Leverkusen) were denied permission from their clubs to take action in Prague, as they returned to Germany should be quarantined.
sport">For the same reason, national coach Roberto Martinez of Belgium could not rely on Thomas Meunier, Thorgan Hazard (both Borussia Dortmund) and Koen Casteels (VfL Wolfsburg). Yannick Carrasco was missing due to injury.
sport">The Czech Republic had won the first World Cup qualifier against Estonia 6-2. The Belgians started qualifying with a 3-1 win over Wales. Earlier Saturday, Belarus defeated Estonia 4-2 in the group.
Modric record international Croatia after a tight win against Cyprus
sport">Luka Modric can call herself Croatia’s new record international with 135 international matches. The 35-year-old Real Madrid midfielder lost former defender Darijo Srna in Rijeka, who was the record holder for a long time with 134 international matches. With Modric as captain, Croatia won a tight victory against Cyprus (1-0). The goal was scored in the 40th minute by Mario Pasalic.
sport">Croatia lost its first World Cup qualifying match in and against Slovenia (1-0) last Wednesday. Playmaker Modric’s team will play at home against Malta on Tuesday.
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