Euro Qualifiers: Top 5 Performers of Matchday 3
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.