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Matchday 3 of the UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifiers saw some great goals and high drama, with Turkey's 2-0 victory over World Champions France capturing the headlines. AS Roma wonderkid Cengiz Under and Fortuna Dusseldorf defender Kaan Ayhan scored against a lackluster Les Blues who were without injured midfield lynchpin N'golo Kante.
In other notable results, Germany beat Belarus 2-0 thanks to goals from Marco Reus and Manchester City winger Leroy Sane and Italy made light work of Greece with a 3-0 victory thanks to strikes from Lorenzo Insigne, Nicolo Barella and Leonardo Bonucci.
Full Results:
New Real Madrid acquisition Eden Hazard was in action as Belgium dispatched Kazakhstan 3-0 with Dries Mertens, Timothy Castagne and Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku getting on the scoreboad.
In terms of Group standings, Ukraine raised to the top of Group B with a 5-0 decimation of Serbia with 7 points from 3 games. The group contains Portugal (in 3rd place, with 2 points from 2 game), who are currently occupied in the UEFA Nations League and were exempted from this round of Euro Qualifiers.
With 25 exciting games completed as part of Matchday 3 of what is turning out to be a fascinating Euro 2020 Qualification campaign, let us have a look at the Top 5 performers of this round of fixtures.
#5 Lorenzo Insigne (SSC Napoli, Italy)
Napoli forward Lorenzo Insigne masterminded a fantastic 3-0 away win for Italy against Greece at the Athens Olympic stadium. Torino forward Andrea Belotti broke down the Greek left flank in the 23rd minute to cut back the ball to an unmarked Nicolo Barella, who made no mistake with a calm finish.
Insigne then unleashed his magic in the 33rd minute, dribbling past two defenders in the left flank to curl a fantastic finish past Greek goalkeeper Vasilios Barkas to make it 2-0 for Roberto Mancini's Italian side.
Juventus centre-back Leonardo Bonucci capped off a dominant 3-0 victory with a smart header in the 33rd minute, after latching onto a fantastic cross from Chelsea left wingback Emerson.
With this win, the Azzurri consolidated their position as group leaders in Group J with 3 wins from three games, ahead of Finland and Bosnia & Herzegovina. Greece slipped to 4th with 4 points from 3 games.
#4 Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund, Germany)
Germany maintained their 100% start to the UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifiers with a 2-0 away victory at Barysaw, Belarus thanks to goals from Manchester City winger Leroy Sane and Borussia Dortmund forward Marco Reus.
Joshua Kimmich found Leroy Sane with a neat through ball in the 12th minute and the lightning quick 23-year-old swung a curler in to left hand far post beyond the reach of Belarus keeper Alyaksandr Hutar.
After looking threatening throughout the game, Reus was rewarded with a goal in the 62nd minute, running onto a neat cutback from Matthias Ginter, controlling the ball with a fanstastic touch and finishing with precision. 30-year-old Reus has always been unlucky with his German career having famously missed out on being part of the 2014 World Cup winning Die Mannschaft squad due to injury.
With this win, Germany stands at 2nd place in Group C with 6 points from 2 games, with a game in hand with respect to leaders Northern Ireland who have 9 points from 3 game.
#3 Ivan Perisic (Inter Milan, Croatia)
Croatia grabbed a crucial 2-1 win against Ryan Giggs' Wales side thanks to an own goal from James Lawrence and a neat finish from Inter Milan winger Ivan Perisic. David Brooks managed to get one back for the Welshmen in the 77th minute, but the Vatreni managed to hold on till the final whistle in Osjek, Croatia.
The Welsh defence looked shaky throughout with Croatian forwards Andrej Kramaric and Perisic constantly closing them down with their pace. Perisic broke down the left wing in the 17th minute after being found by a brilliant long ball from Luka Modric. The Inter winger dribbled into the box and unleashed a fierce cutback which was bundled into his own goal by James Lawrence in an attempt to cover Kramaric.
Gareth Bale and new Manchester Untied signing Daniel James were kept quiet thoughout the game by a well drilled Croatian defence overseen by Liverpool's Dejan Lovren and Besiktas' centre back Domagoj Vida.
The Wales defence was again suspect for the second goal with left back Ben Davies giving the ball away to Croatian midfielder Marcelo Brozovic. The Inter Milan man found Andrej Kramaric in the box, who was disposessed by by a brilliant tackle from Joe Allen. The rebound from the tackle however, ran straight into the path of Ivan Perisic, who overpowered Lawrence to slot the ball in with his right foot.
After having lost their last qualifier to Group E leaders Hungary, this was an important win Croatia, who now sit 2nd in the standings with 2 wins from 3 games. Wales slipped to 4th spot behind Slovakia with one win and one loss from their opening two games.
#2 Dries Martens (SSC Napoli, Belgium)
While Eden Hazard had gained a lot of attention recently thanks to his big money move to La Liga giants Real Madrid, it was SSC Napoli's inside forward Dries Mertens who put in a man-of-the-match performance to ensure Belgium trumped Kazakhstan 3-0 to consolidate their leadership on top of Group I.
The 32-year-old forward scored a goal and set up the other two to cap a brilliant all-round performance. He opened the scoring in the 11th minute, latching onto an Eden Hazard cutback to finish with the help of a deflection from a Kazakh defender.
Thorgan Hazard and Mertens ran through the left flank of the Kazakh defence in the 14th minute, with Mertens' looped cross nodded in by Belgium right-back Timothy Castagne to make it 2-0.
Mertens broke down the opposition right flank in the 50th minute and unleashed a fierce shot that came off the crossbar, with Romelu Lukaku tapping in the rebound for Belgium's 3rd goal of the night.
In a group composed of Scotland, Russia and Kazakhstan as well as minnows Cyprus and San Marino, this was an important home win for the Red Devils, who maintained their 100% record with 3 wins from 3 games.
#1 Cengiz Under (AS Roma, Turkey)
A resurgent Turkish side dismantled World Champions France 2-0 in Konya to leapfrog Les Blues to the top of the Group H standings. The Frenchmen clearly missed Chelsea midfield dynamo N'golo Kante who was out due to a knee injury, as the Ay-Yıldızlılar completely overran them in midfield.
The hosts opened the scoring in the 30th minute in Konya with Fortuna Dusseldorf defender Kaan Ayhan's powerful header after a great headed cross from Demiral, after a Cengiz Under freekick. Some brilliant pressing from the Turkish forwards resulted in the second goal in the 40th minute.
Striker Burak Yilmaz overpowered Paul Pogba to gain posession. Midfielder Dorukhan Tokoz found Turkish talisman Cengiz Under rampaging down the right flank and the AS Roma winger made no mistake with a brilliant shot across goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to make it 2-0.
Considered the biggest talent to emerge from Turkey after Arda Turan, Under is being sought after by a host of Europe's elite including Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
It was the first time in 10 years that France failed to register a single shot on target in a competitive international. Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe were kept quiet throughout the game by Turkey's brilliant centre-backs Kaan Ayhan and Merih Demiral.
France manager Didier Deschamps remarked after the game:
“That was a slap in the face for us and there’s not a lot I can say. We have a different challenge on Tuesday and I have to say bravo to Turkey. We need to get back to basics.“
