Five talking points from the start of Euro 2024 qualifying

Belgium's significant change

After a disappointing and lacklustre performance at the World Cup, coach Domenico Tedesco took over the Red Devils. And so far his treatment is working. He hasn't so much changed the squad as the formation and instead of 3-5-2 the Belgians now play a classic 4-4-2. To start with, the new coach has a tough mission ahead of him in front of fewer than 50,000 fans in Stockholm, Sweden, where the home team has been strong for a long time. The result? 3-0!

Tedesco does not have the professional career of his predecessor Roberto Martínez. In Germany, where his parents moved when he was three years old, he made it to the eighth league at the most. Moreover, he is very young and, at 37 years old and has not yet had experience of managing a national team. But he's made a great debut. And if there was talk that the Belgian national team's years with the greatest potential were behind it, Tedesco suggested the opposite.

The internal disputes that tore the team apart in Qatar have been swept back under the carpet. "Winning is the best recipe for cohesion," the coach smiled after Belgium's 15th straight win in European Championship qualifying. And with Monday's date free, De Bruyne and co. played their preparation with the Germans. The Euro 2024 hosts can prepare in peace and their coach Hansi Flick proclaimed that the team will play a completely different kind of football. But Belgium won 3-2, having waited 69 years for a triumph over their big neighbours! By the way, Tedesco means German in Italian...

McTominay's blistering form

Of course, even Denmark's Rasmus Höjlund would have deserved this label, but he needed 180 minutes to score his five goals (the Scotsman 114) and the Danes stumbled sensationally in Kazakhstan. It was the Scots, led by McTominay, who caused a similar stir, but a positive one. The Spanish scalp will forever go down as one of the greatest games in the history of their national team.

The team did not score in the two games (Cyprus 3-0, Spain 2-0), but the Manchester United all-rounder tallied for four of his team's five goals and might have scored all of them if he had been on the pitch during the remaining one. His phase did not escape the attention of club teammate Bruno Fernandes, who took a dig at the Scot on social media: "Are you a striker yet?"

And it was only after the match against Cyprus that McTominay managed as many goals in 24 minutes as he has in 32 games for United this season. Against the Spaniards, he continued the momentum. "The coach told us before the game that we have a chance to leave a legacy that people will remember for 20, 30 years. He put it on our hearts to make sure we take every chance we get," McTominay revealed. They did, with the Scots needing three shots to win 2-0 (their opponents had the same number). The triumph over Spain came after 39 long years.

Ronaldo is back

Ronaldo, Ronaldo, Ronaldo... The Portuguese phenomenon is everywhere again. Not only has the Red and Green's new pilot Roberto Martínez returned him to the starting line-up, from which CR7 dropped out during the recent World Cup in Qatar, Ronaldo is adding goals and breaking records like crazy.

First, the Portuguese cannon-baller broke away from Kuwait's Badir Mutava to score two goals for Liechtenstein in his 197th start for the national team on Thursday, then on Sunday against Luxembourg he increased his goal tally by two more to 122. At 38 years and 49 days, he became the second oldest-ever European Championship qualifier (after Finland's Jari Litmanen - 39 years and 270 days). In the first match, he waited eight minutes to score, in the second nine. Against Luxembourg, he confirmed that this is his favourite opponent in the national team - he has already scored 11 goals.

And he prepared a brand new celebration for it, instead of his traditional spin, he ended up in a position with his arms crossed on his chest after the goal, imitating sleep. He's been known to fall asleep like that several times a day and his teammates make fun of him for it. As if to indicate that his grumpy moods are gone, Ronaldo was all smiles on the pitch this time too. And Martínez wants to build on it. "I don't look at age or other aspects. He has the opportunity to help the team and pass on his experience to others," he said.

The oldest player: Hang in there, Zlatan!

Iconic Swede Zlatan Ibrahimovic, for his part, was keen to don the national team jersey and, like Ronaldo, was motivated by the prospect of breaking a major record. At 41 years and 172 days, he could become the oldest player in UEFA competitions. At least, that's what the media was reporting ahead of Friday's duel with Belgium. What the heck, the previous best, held for 40 years by Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff (41 years and 90 days), could not be matched by the iron striker.

And 'Ibra', less than a week after he became the oldest goal scorer in Serie A history with his against Udinese, also spoke of his desire to go to Germany for the final tournament. "Those who quit when they are healthy regret it later. If I can, I want to keep playing. I have suffered a lot in the last 14 months," he let it be known. And he was looking forward to the next milestone. He was blown away by the "nameless" Lee Casciaro from Gibraltar, also a forward by the way.

Only four days older than Zlatan, the player, who already has grey hairs on his cheeks, played the same night as Zlatan, but unlike him in the starting line-up... Even worse for the AC Milan star was the result of the match itself, in which the yellow and blue suffered a harsh defeat by Belgium. Moreover, Romelu Lukaku of rivals Inter Milan scored a hat-trick to give the visitors a 3-0 victory. And their participation in the Euros? After the first round, the Swedes are only in third place, behind Austria and Belgium.

A most successful debut: Joselu rejuvenated by 14 years

The Spaniards tried in vain for a long time to break the Norwegians in Málaga on Saturday, the Northerners were still living in hope at 1-0 up. Until, in the 81st minute, new coach Luis de la Fuente brought the forgotten striker off the bench. And the nearly 33-year-old Joselu, making his national team debut, scored accurately after just 147 seconds on the pitch! A minute later, he added another and it was done.

The native of Stuttgart, Germany, didn't blossom as a goalscorer until later in life when he started scoring more than 10 goals a season around the age of 30. This season, he has already scored 12 in an Espanyol jersey. Against the Norwegians, he scored two goals with his first two touches with the ball! "I still can't believe it. The hard work is paying off, it gives me the strength to keep working. I feel like an 18-year-old boy!" he confessed.

Yesterday in Scotland, it wasn't so glorious. Joselu started in the starting line-up and also shot twice on goal, but to no effect. His header from the 20th minute was caught by the goalkeeper, then he headed another one just into the crossbar. And the Spaniards left Glasgow empty-handed.