Ukraine punish Faroes

Ukraine took out the frustration of Scotland ending their European Championship qualification chances on Faroe Islands tonight.

After seeing his side’s Group B hopes mathematically ended by a 3-1 defeat at Hampden Park on Saturday, Maxym Kalynychenko bagged a hat-trick in this afternoon’s 5-0 win in Kiev.

Oleh Gusev completed the rout with two more goals.

In Group A’s early kick-off, Cristiano Ronaldo helped Portugal narrowly avoid a damaging draw in Kazakhstan.

The contest was locked at 0-0 until six minutes from time, when Ariza Makukula came off the bench to head the visitors in front.

Ronaldo sealed the win in stoppage time to put Portugal three points clear of third-placed Finland with two games remaining, although Dmitriy Byakov snatched a consolation.

Serbia ensured it would remain a four-way battle for qualification by thrashing Azerbaijan 6-1 in Baku.

Nikola Zigic scored twice – and there were also goals for Bosko Jankovic, Dusko Tosic, and substitutes Milan Jovanovic and Danko Lazovic.

Azerbaijan’s Samir Aliyev briefly made it 2-1.