European Qualifiers: Albania shock Portugal, Denmark defeat Armenia
Monday 8 September 2014 10:15, UK
Portugal slumped to an embarrassing 1-0 defeat at home to Albania in their opening Euro 2016 qualifier on Sunday, as any hopes of bouncing back from a miserable World Cup were shattered.
A stunning volley from Bekim Balaj early in the second half decided the Group I clash, with the hosts, without the rested Cristiano Ronaldo, unable to muster a response.
The Portuguese crashed out in the group stages in Brazil and this was another setback for a team which still included a host of household names.
Denmark were spared another home embarrassment at the hands of Armenia, also in Group I, as goals from Pierre Emile Hojbjerg and Thomas Kahlenberg secured the Scandinavians a come-from-behind 2-1 victory.
Playing a nation who had pulled off a famous 4-0 victory over them at Parken during World Cup qualifying in 2013, the Danes looked set to be humbled by the Armenians in Copenhagen once again when Borussia Dortmund midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan's strike put the away side 1-0 up in the 50th minute.
However, Hojbjerg levelled 15 minutes later with a long-range effort, and with 10 minutes of the contest to go substitute Kahlenberg headed home the winner.
Rosenborg striker Riku Riski rescued Finland from an embarrassing situation in Group F against the Faroe Islands.
Finland trailed to a Christian Holst goal and were in danger of becoming the Faroes' first major scalp since June 2011.
But Riski scored a brace to spin the tie around and then Roman Eremenko added a late third for good measure in a 3-1 win.
Greece were not so fortunate as they slipped up 1-0 at home to 10-man Romania behind closed doors in Piraeus.
Ciprian Marica scored from the spot after just 10 minutes, before he was red-carded on 54 minutes for two bookable offences, but the hosts hung on in an empty stadium as Greece served their punishment from previous crowd trouble to make it a debut to forget for new coach Claudio Ranieri.
Gibraltar's first-ever senior competitive game ended in a 7-0 thumping by Poland in their Group D clash.
Robert Lewandowski scored four, Kamil Grosicki fired in two and Lukas Szukala also got onto the scoresheet in a predictably one-sided match at Estadio Do Algarve in Faro.
