European Goals of the Week, 17 Nov: Ronaldo, Belotti and Hazard score crackers
5. HAZARD BROS RUN RIOT IN RUSSIA
Belgium have been sensational in this qualifying campaign and in arguably their hardest fixture, away in Russia, they made light work of the hosts. Thorgan Hazard got the ball rolling, cutting inside from the left and when unchallenged drove his right-footed shot high into the top corner. This team need to be considered favourites for the Euros, surely?
Watch Thorgan Hazard's goal on YouTube
4 RONALDO CLOSES IN ON 100
As Ronaldo enters the closing stages of his career (we think, anyway) he has set his sight on Ali Daei's total of 109 international goals as another milestone he wants to smash. And the way he is going, he's not going to miss it. The highlight of his hat-trick against Lithuania was this beautiful first-time curling shot which nestled in the corner to close in on a century of goals. The Iranian is next.
Watch Cristiano Ronaldo's goal on YouTube
BELOTTI AND ITALY ARE PERFECT
The Azzurri are moving along nicely under Roberto Mancini and they made what could have been a tricky fixture in Bosnia look rather easy. Torino forward Belotti rounded off the win, and although assisted by poor goalkeeper positioning, he showed superb guile to loop his first-time shot into the corner of the net and give Italy a comfortable victory and nine wins out of nine in qualifying.
Watch Andrea Belotti's goal on YouTube
2. OLMO OWES THIAGO
FC often says that a great goal isn't always in the finish but in how you get there, and never more the case than in Dani Olmo's goal against Malta. The finish is neat and tidy, the forward dancing around the goalkeeper to slide home, but Thiago's outrageous, defence-splitting pass was a true thing of beauty. It perfectly dissects the defence and seems to slow down into Olmo's pass. Awesome.
1. EFREM'S AWESOME EFFORT... IN DEFEAT
Such a shame (except for Scotland fans!) that Giorgos Efrem's brilliant volley was worth nothing in a 2-1 defeat, as it was hit so purely and with superb technique. The ball drops to him following a deep free-kick and he positions his body in an exemplary fashion before unleashing a wonderful strike into the net.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Toni Kroos' neat finish to round off the win against Belarus was a lovely goal, as was Ryan Christie's curled opener for Scotland against Cyprus.