PIX: Portugal's Fernandes shines; Austria hold Belgium

A summary of the Euro 2024 qualification matches played on Saturday.

Fernandes double as Portugal ease past Bosnia

Bruno Fernandes struck twice and Bernardo Silva also scored to earn Portugal a 3-0 home win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday and secure the third straight win of their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.

Roberto Martinez's side top Group J with nine points and will be looking for a fourth successive victory against Iceland on Tuesday. Bosnia, fourth on three points, next host Luxembourg.

Portugal dominated possession but only opened the scoring seconds before halftime when Silva chipped in from Fernandes's pass to register his 11th international goal.

Fernandes doubled the lead with a brilliant header from Ruben Neves's cross in the 77th minute before sealing the win in stoppage time with a powerful volley to reach 15 international goals.

"I was fresh, now less fresh, but I will recover. Later I'll have my rest, but I always want to play and give my best. I don't want to think about being tired," the Manchester United midfielder told Sport TV after his 69th match of the season.

"It was a great win, these are difficult games and we have to make them easy, as we did.

"I'm pleased to have scored, but the most important thing was getting the three points. We want to be in the European Championship."

A satisfied coach Martinez also pointed out the fatigue of his players as the season draws to a close.

"Today was a typical June stage game, with mental fatigue. The players were at a high level physically, it was a difficult game against a team with very clear ideas," said the Spanish coach.

"We need to be together, to learn, to play as a team. We need games like this to keep growing. We must enjoy the victory... Then we will think about Iceland."

Robust Austria claim away point in Belgium

Austria claimed a potentially important away point as they held Belgium to a 1-1 draw in their Group F European Championship 2024 qualifier in Brussels, ending their hosts impressive winning run in the preliminaries.

The result meant Austria, who played a robust physical game, advanced to seven points from three games, three more than Belgium, who were playing their second group game, in the bid to qualify for next year's finals in Germany.

Austria took the lead from a 21st minute corner, swung over to the back post where Michael Gregoritsch struck the ball in. Belgium midfielder Orel Mangala stuck out his heel in a sloppy effort to block the ball and only succeeded in diverting it past goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

Romelu Lukaku, captaining Belgium in the absence of injured Kevin De Bruyne, had missed a good chance early in the second half but made up for it in the 61st minute as he was given time to turn and fire in the equaliser.

The goal extended Lukaku’s record for his country to 73 goals in 108 appearances, but the draw brought to an end Belgium’s run of 15 successive wins in the European Championship qualifiers, stretching back to 2015.

Courtois made a diving stop to deny Stefan Posch from restoring Austria's lead soon after, but the woodwork denied Belgium a stoppage-time winner as Youri Tielemans rattled the crossbar.

The match marked a disappointing home debut for Belgium's new coach Domenico Tedesco, whose side are next up away against Estonia on Tuesday.

Austria have a chance to keep up their group lead when they take on Sweden in Vienna on the same night.

Scotland strike late to beat Norway 2-1

Lyndon Dykes and Kenny McLean both struck late goals as Scotland came back from going a goal down to Erling Haaland's penalty to snatch a 2-1 win over Norway in their Group A European Championship 2024 qualifier.

With Cyprus set to face Georgia in the five-team group later in the evening, the win moved the Scots to nine points at the top of the group, six ahead of second-placed Spain who have played a game less. Norway are fourth on one point.

Despite dominating possession, Norway struggled to create many decent chances but eventually Haaland, who won the Champions League last week with Manchester City, came to the rescue as he was bundled over in the box by Ryan Porteous.

The giant Norwegian got up, dusted himself off and fired the ball home low to the goalkeeper's right in the 61st minute to prompt wild celebrations in the Ullevaal Stadium.

With that goal looking to have set his side on the road to victory, Haaland was withdrawn by coach Stale Solbakken in the 84th minute, and it was to prove to be a costly mistake.

A defensive error by Leo Ostigard allowed striker Dykes to poke home the equaliser three minutes before the end of normal time, and he then teed up substitute McLean to score the winner two minutes later as Scotland secured an unlikely win that silenced the home crowd.

"The character to come back from that is outstanding. I think we can still do better with the ball, but listen, I'll take that all day," a jubilant McLean told BBC Scotland.

Norway captain Martin Odegaard was left speechless after his side's late collapse.

"I can't put words on it. It's tough, that's how football is sometimes, it's brutal," Odegaard told Norway's TV2.

"The only thing we can do is apologise, stand together and fight on," he added.