Eden Hazard ensured Belgium kicked off its qualifying campaign for Euro 2020 on Thursday with a brace in a home victory over Russia, while a Memphis Depay-inspired the Netherlands romped to a 4-0 win over Belarus.
World Cup semifinalist Belgium earned a battling 3-1 win over Russia in Brussels as Hazard struck twice for Roberto Martinez’s side in its opening game in Group I.
Youri Tielemans rounded off a flowing move with a crisp low strike to fire Belgium ahead on 14 minutes, but Thibaut Courtois gifted Russia an immediate equaliser.
The Real Madrid goalkeeper, put under pressure by Artem Dzyuba, panicked and scuffed the ball straight to Denis Cheryshev who duly swept home into an empty net.
Hazard restored Belgium’s lead just before half-time after drawing a foul from Yuri Zhirkov in the area.
The Chelsea playmaker sealed the three points two minutes from time with an alert finish.
In Rotterdam, Memphis Depay pounced on a sloppy backpass to put the Dutch ahead inside 60 seconds against Group C opponent Belarus.
The Lyon forward set up Georginio Wijnaldum for the second on 21 minutes, with Depay tucking away a penalty after half-time following a foul by Mikhail Sivakov.
Depay whipped in a cross for captain Virgil van Dijk to nod in a fourth late on, leaving the Netherlands level on points with Northern Ireland, which beat Estonia 2-0 with Niall McGinn and Steven Davis on target in Belfast.
Krzysztof Piatek continued his magnificent season with the only goal in a 1-0 win for Poland away to Austria in Group G.
The results: Group C: The Netherlands 4 (Depay 1, 55-pen, Wijnaldum 21, van Dijk 86) bt Belarus 0; Northern Ireland 2 (McGinn 56, Davis 75-pen) bt Estonia 0.
Group E: Croatia 2 (Barisic 44, Kramaric 79) bt Azerbaijan 1 (Sheydaev 19); Slovakia 2 (Duda 42, Rusnak 85) bt Hungary 0.
Group G: Austria 0 lost to Poland 1 (Piatek 69); Israel 1 (Zehavi 55) bt Slovenia 1 (Sporar 48); North Macedonia 3 (Alioski 11, Elmas 29, 90+3) bt Latvia 1 (Isajevs 87).
Group I: Cyprus 5 (Sotiriou 19-pen, 23-pen, Kousoulos 26, Efrem 31, Laifis 56) bt San Marino 0; Kazakhstan 3 (Pertsukh 6, Vorogovskiy 10, Zainutdinov 51) bt Scotland 0; Belgium 3 (Tielemans 14, Hazard 45-pen, 88) bt Russia 1 (Cheryshev 16).
