BERLIN: Cristiano Ronaldo became the European Cham­pionships’ all-time top scorer by giving Portugal a 1-0 victory over Armenia, while Germany could only beat Gibraltar 4-0 as their World Cup victory hangover continued on Friday.

Portugal captain Ronaldo broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute to take his tally across Euro finals and qualifying to 23 goals. Denmark’s Jon Dahl Tomasson and Turkey’s Hakan Sukur had previously scored 22 goals each.

Germany were looking for a high score against Gibraltar, a territory of just 30,000 people who are playing their first qualifying event and had already lost 7-0 to both Ireland and Poland in Group ‘D’.

However, there were whistles from some fans at full-time after watching the World Cup holders labour against a defensively set-up side made up mostly of amateurs.

Convincing in Brazil during the summer, Germany had been held to a 1-1 draw by Ireland and beaten 2-0 by Poland in their two previous Euro 2016 qualifiers. They also lost 4-2 to Argentina in a friendly repeat of the World Cup final in September.

Elsewhere, Greece slumped to a shock 1-0 defeat at home to the Faroe Islands and Denmark came from behind to beat Serbia 3-1. There were qualifying wins for Poland, Scotland, Romania and Hungary.

Ronaldo’s winner against Armenia meant Portugal stayed one point behind Group ‘I’ leaders Denmark. The Real Madrid star struck from close range following a goalmouth scramble.

Nicklas Bendtner scored twice as Denmark came from a goal down to beat Serbia 3-1 at Partizan stadium in Belgrade.

Serbia winger Zoran Tosic opened the scoring with a low strike from 12 yards in the fourth minute. But Bendtner equalised from close range in the 60th before centre-back Simon Kjaer gave the visitors the lead two minutes later by heading in a free-kick from Christian Eriksen. Bendtner made it 3-1 in the 85th.

France, who have already qualified as the hosts of Euro 2016, drew 1-1 with Albania in Rennes.

Albania defender Mergim Mavraj stunned the hosts with a header in the 40th. But France substitute Antoine Griezmann salvaged a draw by cutting inside to fire into the bottom corner in the 73rd.

In Group ‘D’, Thomas Mueller scored twice as Germany got their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign back on track with an unconvincing 4-0 win over Gibraltar.

Mueller opened the scoring in the 12th minute and claimed his second 17 minutes later. Mario Goetze made it 3-0 in the 38th, before an own goal from Yogan Santos completed the scoring in the 67th.

Germany coach Joachim Loew said beforehand he wanted a result to reflect his side’s status as the World Cup winners and he started with a very attacking line-up and just three defenders.

The home side dominated the game but found it hard to penetrate the visitors’ stubborn defence, especially in the second half.

Liam Walker almost scored for Gibraltar with an audacious effort from the sideline just before the interval, only to be denied by a great save from Manuel Neuer.

Germany remain three points behind Group ‘D’ leaders Poland, which won 4-0 in Georgia thanks to second-half goals from Kamil Glik, Grzegorz Krychowiak, Sebastian Mila and Arkadiusz Milik.

Shaun Maloney’s 75th-minute strike was enough for Scotland to beat Ireland 1-0 in Glasgow, moving the Scots level on points with Ireland and Germany.

Meanwhile, Greece continued their disastrous run in qualifying with a humiliating 1-0 defeat to the Faroe Islands, while Northern Ireland surrendered their lead in Group ‘F’ to Romania.

The result in Greece is almost certain to prompt the dismissal of coach Claudio Ranieri, who hasn’t won a game since taking over in the summer and has now lost three straight at home.

The Faroe Islanders, winning only their third European qualifier in 19 years, celebrated after the four minutes of injury time were up. Several of them in tears as they were clapped by Greek fans at Karaiskaki Stadium in Piraeus.

Joan Edmundsson scored in the 61st minute, firing in a ball that fell favorably in front of Greece goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis.

In Bucharest, Romania looked rejuvenated under coach Anghel Iordanescu, returning for his third spell at the national team, fighting hard to beat Northern Ireland 2-0.

There was a late winner at Budapest’s Groupama Arena, where Hungary’s Zoltan Gera scored in the 84th minute to beat Finland 1-0 and claim third place.

Results:

Group ‘D’:

At Tbilisi:

Georgia 0Poland 4

At Nuremberg, Germany:

Germany 4Gibraltar 0

At Glasgow:

Scotland 1Republic of Ireland 0

Group ‘F’:

At Budapest:

Hungary 1Finland 0

At Bucharest:

Romania 2Northern Ireland 0

At Piraeus, Greece:

Greece 0Faroe Islands 1

Group ‘I’:

At Faro, Portugal:

Portugal 1Armenia 0

At Belgrade:

Serbia 1Denmark 3.

Published in Dawn, November 16th , 2014