🇪🇺 Biggest win for France; Dutch, Swiss & Romania qualify for Euros | OneFootball

There were places at Euro 2024 up for grabs on Saturday as the qualifying campaign draws to a close.

Here is what went down.

Record-breaking France hammer Gibraltar

Scorers: Santos 3′ (OG), Thuram 4′, Zaïre-Emery 16′, Mbappé 30′ (P), 74′, 82′, Clauss 34′, Coman 36′, 65′, Fofana 37′, Rabiot 63′, Dembélé 73′, Giroud 89′, 90+1. Red: Santos 18′

France piled on the goals with a record showing against poor Gibraltar.

Les Bleus grabbed a notable lead within minutes after two own-goals in the blink of an eye had the visitors panicking (the second however was attributed to Marcus Thuram).

Teenage sensation Warren Zaïre-Emery accomplished two historic feats on the night, the second of which was starting and finishing a play for France’s third.

However, the PSG star was injured during the goal, which saw VAR hand Ethan Santos his marching orders and Gibraltar’s night became worse.

With a man advantage, Kylian Mbappé netted the fourth from the penalty spot and Jonathan Clauss scored his first on the international stage while Kingsley Coman and Youssouf Fofana also joined in on the action.

The action didn’t stop after the break, as Adrien Rabiot stabbed home a loose ball, Coman secured a brace with a chipped shot inside the box and Ousmane Dembélé made it double digits off the bench.

France then ensured it was a historic night for the entire team as star man Mbappé scored the historic eleventh and then twelfth goal for a hat-trick (alongside his hat-trick of assists). Substitute Olivier Giroud also netted a two-minute brace late on.

The win was France’s biggest-ever result (previously 10-0) and Gibraltar’s largest loss (previously 9-0).

Netherlands edge Ireland to qualify

Scorers: Weghorst 11′

The Netherlands qualified for EURO 2024 after a slim victory over Ireland.

The hosts dominated the match from a statistics point of view, but shots on target were few and far between.

Wout Weghorst opened the scoring when he dummied Liam Scales and then blasted home the ball into the top right corner beyond Gavin Bazunu.

Stephen Kenny’s side, however, were equally as poor in terms of attack with just one shot after 60 minutes of action.

Weghorst and Xavi Simons continued to push for a second Dutch goal while Tijjani Reijnders had an effort hit the post.

Ireland thought they had equalised when Adam Idah’s shot was spilled by goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen but the striker was offside in the build-up.

Ronald Koeman might wonder what needs to be done for more dominant performances on the pitch but he’ll take the result.

Switzerland survive to qualify

Scorers: Vargas 47′; Hyseni 82′

Switzerland were made to work against Kosovo in order to book their place at EURO 2024 and just survived.

The hosts dominated the game with 77% possession but found it hard to beat a visiting side with only nine goals conceded this campaign.

That was until a leaping Ruben Vargas headed home beyond goalkeeper Visar Bekaj minutes after the restart.

Things remained a nervy affair and Muhamet Hyseni scored on his debut by scoring the ball into the far post.

The draw, however, was enough to see Switzerland reach this summer’s competition as second in the group.

Romania comeback to secure spot

Scorers: Zahavi 2′; Puscas 10′, Hagi 63′. Red: Mihaila

Romania qualified for EURO 2024 after a comeback win in Israel.

It was the hosts who took the lead within the blink of an eye as Eran Zahavi bundled the ball home at the back post after less than 120 seconds.

Then despite only 35% possession of the ball, the visitors managed to turn it around and secure their spot.

George Puscas equalised after stabbing home a shot off the crossbar and Ianis Hagi’s strike from inside the box turned things completely around.

Valentin Mihaila was sent off late keeping things interesting, but Israel fell short of their own comeback and will need to play in the playoffs.

Earlier results…

Croatia in the driving seat after win in Latvia

Scorers: Majer 6′, Kramarić 16′.

Croatia took advantage of Wales’ slip-up earlier in the day to put themselves firmly in the driving seat for Euro 2024 qualification.

Wales’ draw in Armenia meant a win for Zlatko Dalić’s men could jump over them and into second spot with a win in Latvia, which they all but secured after just 16 minutes.

Lovro Majer got on to the end of Luka Ivanušec’s low cross from the left to turn home to break the deadlock after six minutes.

That lead was doubled when Josip Stanišić’s cross into the box escaped the attention of two Latvia defenders before landing at the feet of Andrej Kramarić, who slotted into the bottom corner.

Croatia are now ahead of Wales by two points and will secure their place at next summer’s tournament if they beat Armenia on Tuesday.

Wales’ Euro 2024 hopes dealt huge blow

Scorers: Zelarayán 5′; Tiknizyan (OG) 45+2′.

Wales’ hopes of qualifying for Euro 2024 were dealt a huge blow after they were held to a draw in Armenia.

The visitors got off to a nightmare start when they failed to clear a corner which led to Lucas Zelarayán making room at the edge of the box to smash home via the post.

Robert Page’s side restored some hope in first half stoppage-time and they were given a huge helping hand from their hosts as Conor Roberts’ long-throw was headed into his own net by Nair Tiknizyan.

That leveller gave Wales 45 minutes to search for the win that would put them firmly in the driving seat for qualification ahead of the final round of matches.

But it was Armenia, who could also still qualify by winning their final two games, who looked more likely to make the breakthrough with Vahan Bichakhchyan striking the crossbar from the edge of the box.

The result leaves qualification out of Wales’ hands, and they now need Croatia to fail to win both of their last two matches against Latvia and Armenia if they are to stand any hope of making it to Germany next summer.

You can catch up on all last night’s results here.