Erling Haaland shrugged off the after-effects of a freak accident to deliver one of the most remarkable individual performances of the World Cup qualifying campaign on Tuesday, scoring five goals as Norway overwhelmed Moldova 11-1 in Oslo.
The Manchester City striker, who took to the pitch still bearing stitches on his face from a collision with a bus door earlier in the week, was in irresistible form.
By half time he had already secured his fifth international hat-trick, striking in the 11th, 29th and 43rd minutes. Two more after the interval extended his tally to 48 goals in just 45 appearances for his country.
Haaland’s ruthless finishing set the tone for a lopsided contest that kept Norway’s perfect Group I record intact after five matches.
Rangers midfielder Thelo Aasgaard added to Moldova’s misery with four goals in the space of half an hour after coming off the bench, while Felix Horn Myre and captain Martin Odegaard were also on target. Norway even supplied Moldova’s only goal, defender Leo Ostigard inadvertently turning into his own net.
Elsewhere in Europe, Cristiano Ronaldo reached another milestone in Portugal’s 3-2 victory over Hungary in Budapest.
The 40-year-old striker converted a 58th-minute penalty to register his 39th goal in World Cup qualifying, drawing level with Guatemala’s Carlos Ruiz as the all-time leading scorer in the competition.
Hungary twice led through Barnabas Varga, but Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo struck either side of Ronaldo’s record-equalling effort to keep Portugal top of Group F with maximum points from two games.
Armenia produced the evening’s upset in the same group, defeating the Republic of Ireland 2-1 thanks to goals from Eduard Spertsyan and Grant-Leon Ranos. Evan Ferguson replied late on but Stephen Kenny’s side were left to reflect on a damaging defeat.
In Paris, France were made to work hard for a 2-1 win over Iceland. Andri Gudjohnsen silenced the Parc des Princes with an early opener before Kylian Mbappe levelled from the penalty spot. Bradley Barcola’s first international goal ultimately proved decisive, though Didier Deschamps’ side were forced to cling on after Aurelien Tchouameni’s red card left them a man down for the final 22 minutes.
Ukraine’s campaign endured another frustrating evening as they were held 1-1 by Azerbaijan in Baku. Georgiy Sudakov, who revealed this week that his family home in Kyiv had been damaged by a Russian drone strike, put the visitors ahead just after the interval. But Emin Mahmudov equalised from the spot following a handball by Oleksandr Zinchenko.
England, meanwhile, gave new manager Thomas Tuchel the perfect start with a resounding 5-0 win against Serbia.
England dominated the early stages in Belgrade and took the lead in the 33rd minute when Harry Kane headed home his 74th international goal from a Declan Rice corner.
The visitors doubled their advantage two minutes later, as Noni Madueke kept his composure and dinked the ball beyond Serbia goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic.
Seven minutes into the second half, Ezri Konsa pounced on a loose ball after a free-kick to score his first international goal.
Marc Guehi slid in England's fourth from a free-kick after Nikola Milenkovic was shown a straight red card for a foul on Kane.
Substitute Marcus Rashford rounded off a perfect night for his team with a late spot-kick.
"The players did excellent. The credit goes to them, they did amazing. That's the bar," manager Tuchel told ITV Sport.
England could qualify for an eighth-successive World Cup in their next Group K game when they visit Latvia next month.
Albania edged Latvia 1-0 courtesy of Kristjan Asllani’s first-half strike to round out Group K action.
In Group H, Austria climbed level on points with Bosnia-Herzegovina after prevailing 2-1 in Zenica, while Romania shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw away to Cyprus.
