Austria book Euro 2016 ticket with smashing win; Russia revive hopes
Austria booked their place at Euro 2016 in emphatic fashion with a thumping 4-1 win away to Group G rivals Sweden.
The visitors strengthened their hold on top spot in the pool thanks to a rampant display which included two goals from Martin Harnik. The Stuttgart forward added to David Alaba's early penalty to put Austria two up at the break and then added the fourth a minute from time after Marc Janko had scored the third.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored an injury-time consolation for the Swedes, but they had nothing to celebrate, slipping two points behind Russia in the race for second spot. The only points Austria have dropped in the group came in the reverse fixture when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Sweden, but there was no doubt about Tuesday's result.
Bayern Munich fullback Alaba coolly clipped in the opener from the spot in the ninth minute after Mikael Antonsson had fouled Zlatko Junuzovic. Ibrahimovic had a close-range effort blocked by defender Sebastien Prodl, but Austria doubled their lead in the 38th minute, Harnik racing to nod home at the far post from Janko's flick on.
Janko himself twice brought parries out of home goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson as the visitors kept up the pressure before the break. Alaba tested Isaksson in the second half, while at the other end Robert Almer was called into action to keep out Marcus Berg's shot.
The lively Janko made it three 13 minutes from time, slotting home from Julian Baumgartlinger's pass. Almer again did well to save from Berg and Emil Forsberg, but Harnik got number four with a close-range finish in the 89th-minute.
Ibrahimovic finally pulled one back two minutes later, but he and his team had been thoroughly outplayed.
Liechtenstein 0, Russia 7
Artem Dzjuba scored four times as Russia climbed into second place in Euro 2016 qualifying Group G after a thumping 7-0 win in Liechtenstein.
The Spartak Moscow striker opened his account after 21 minutes when Roman Shirokov unselfishly set him up to tap into an empty net. In the 40th minute Daniel Kaufmann was sent off for fouling Dzjuba and Aleksandr Kokorin rolled in the penalty, before Dzjuba hit the third on the stroke of half-time.
After the break Dzjuba met Dmitri Kombarov's cross to complete his treble from close range. Fedor Smolov and Alan Dzagoev were also on target before Dzjuba wrapped up the scoring with his fourth in the final minute.
Moldova 0, Montenegro 2
Montenegro kept their faint hopes of qualifying for the 2016 European Championship alive with a 2-0 win in Moldova.
The visitors, who beat Leichtenstein on Saturday, made it back-to-back victories in Group G thanks to a Stefan Savic strike and Petru Racu's own-goal. Savic got the final touch on Stevan Jovetic's cross-shot at the far post after just nine minutes.
In the 65th minute Fatos Beciraj's shot from the edge of the box took a big deflection off the unfortunate Racu to wrap up the win. Montenegro are now three points behind second-placed Russia and one off Sweden in third, with two games remaining.
