Cristiano Ronaldo marked his 200th international appearance with the winner as Portugal beat Iceland 1-0 in Euro 2024 qualifying on Tuesday, while Erling...

Ryan Christie believes the Scotland squad has the “perfect” mix as it looks to take a giant step toward Euro 2024 against Cyprus. Steve Clarke’s side have won their first four qualifiers to sit top of Group A, eight points ahead of Georgia and Norway and nine ahead of Spain, albeit the Spanish have only played two fixtures. After thrilling wins, most notably away to Norway and at home to Spain, the Scots are looking to at least extend their unbeaten run to nine games in Larnaca on Friday, hoping to eventually reach a second successive European Championship finals. Scotland then host England in a 150th anniversary match at Hampden and can qualify that night if results in the other group games go their way. Talking about the team spirit and confidence in the camp, Bournemouth midfielder Christie, 28, said: “It is probably the perfect mix. I’ve never had it so perfect in any other club I have been a part of in my career. “You can see it when everybody meets up and has a brilliant laugh with each other, but when game time rolls around or when we’re on the training pitch everybody’s completely locked in. “So it’s just a nice feeling. I think it also helps when everybody’s meeting up and everyone’s just kind of sliding in again back to normal and ready to go again. It definitely helps and hopefully that will help on Friday. “I think the togetherness is always spoken about a lot, but the belief and confidence we have within ourselves as a group now has never been higher. Obviously qualifying for the last Euros and when we had that kind of slip qualifying for the World Cup, we were desperate to bounce back from that. To be fair ever since that we’ve been right back on track. “The group of boys we’ve got now, from experience right down to the young boys pushing in, everybody’s pushing in the same direction and starting to show.” We need to now keep qualifying for these tournaments because we've got a good enough squad to do it Ryan Christie Christie believes the squad has benefited from the experience of qualifying for Euro 2020, the first time Scotland have reached the finals of a major tournament since 1998. The former Inverness and Celtic player, who will win his 40th cap if selected in Larnaca, added: “Obviously qualifying for the last one, and I’m sure you guys (in the media) felt it too, was just like a massive weight off the shoulders, if anything. “And up to that point, it felt like almost we were jinxed not to qualify for anything. “So to get rid of that feeling was nice. It’s definitely gone. And now we need to now keep qualifying for these tournaments because we’ve got a good enough squad to do it. “We know that so we put that pressure on ourselves from within. I think before the last Euros we qualified for there was a pressure externally as well for us. It feels like everybody’s together.” Christie scored the first of his five Scotland goals in a 2-1 win over Cyprus in Nicosia in November 2019. “Very good memories,” he said of that contest. “My memories are that it was tough to be honest. That’s my first memory. “It’s easy for the onlookers or supporters to overlook Cyprus but, especially when you’re playing away from home against these guys, they make it so hard. “That last game was a tough one. So we expect the same on Friday.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Topsy Ojo backs Steve Borthwick’s England to come good at World Cup Rory McIlroy vows to take ‘sensible’ approach to pre-Ryder Cup stag do Charlie Nicholas urges Scotland to capitalise on Euro qualification chance

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Liverpool have made a formal request to access the audio related to Saturday’s offside controversy at Tottenham, the PA news agency understands. The club had a Luis Diaz goal ruled out in north London due to miscommunication between VAR Darren England and on-field referee Simon Hooper. The Premier League game was goalless at the time of the incident, with the Reds going on to lose 2-1. PA understands the Reds have now formally requested the audio of the conversation between the two from referees’ body Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL). Liverpool issued a statement on Sunday night saying they would “explore the range of options available given the clear need for escalation and resolution”. Much of the focus since has been on precisely how the club would like the matter escalated and resolved, and their first step has been to seek access to precisely what England and Hooper said to each other which led to the mistake. PGMOL issued a statement on Saturday night acknowledging a “significant error” had occurred. Hooper and his assistants had given offside against Diaz on the field, and the PA news agency understands that although England followed the correct procedure in drawing lines, he lost focus and mistakenly thought the initial on-field decision had been onside. This resulted in him issuing a ‘check complete’ notice to Hooper, rather than advising of an intervention and the goal being awarded. Once the officials realised an error had been made, play had restarted and VAR protocols state that once that has happened, there is no way back to revisit a decision. England was replaced as a fourth official for the Nottingham Forest v Brentford match on Sunday while his assistant VAR at Tottenham, Dan Cook, has been replaced for Monday night’s match between Fulham and Chelsea. Referee and VAR appointments for the coming weekend’s matches are due to be announced at 10am on Tuesday morning. The controversy over the Diaz goal has led to calls for the conversation between England and Hooper to be broadcast. PGMOL has not ruled out the possibility of the audio forming part of the next ‘Match Officials Mic’d Up’ programme, which is due to air next Monday. England and Cook had been part of a team of officials who oversaw a fixture between Sharjah and Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, arriving back in the UK on Friday morning. Requests for English officials to take charge of domestic matches overseas are made to the Football Association, with permission for officials to travel granted jointly by the FA and PGMOL. Just as players involved in Europa League matches on a Thursday do not return to domestic action until Sunday, so officials’ duties are balanced to take account of any overseas assignments in the week. For instance, Michael Oliver, who refereed the match in the UAE last week, was a fourth official on Saturday but was back to refereeing at Forest on Sunday. Nor was the UAE trip unusual. It was the fifth time in the last 10 months that officials have overseen domestic matches overseas, with Tom Bramall and Andy Madley leading teams to Japan in January and the early summer respectively, Oliver officiating a Saudi match in April and Craig Pawson going to Greece in May. That is on top of English officials frequently being called upon for club and national team matches in international competitions. Liverpool’s statement said the error that occurred had led to sporting integrity being undermined, but Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said on Monday he still had complete “trust” in referees. “Well, I’m not so often giving comment on refereeing because they do what they have to do,” the Dutchman said. “Of course, the standard has to be high and it’s a part of the game. “Of course, you can expect, we can expect, teams can expect, the fans can all expect, that it has to be a high standard – so it should be because it’s Premier League. “But I think and I’m sure they do what they can. They are very professional, so they will give their best and I trust them.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Liverpool seek clarification about disallowed goal before deciding on next move Scotland’s Finn Russell says second best will not be good enough against Ireland Rory McIlroy says he began thinking about Ryder Cup quest a year ago

England are closing in on a spot at next summer’s European Championship in Germany after four consecutive victories in qualifying. Gareth Southgate’s men are six points clear of nearest rivals Ukraine and will move nine points ahead should they defeat their hosts this evening. The Three Lions have excelled against Ukraine in recent meetings running out 4-0 winners against them in Euro 2020 before goals from Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka were enough to earn England a victory when the nations clashed at Wembley back in March. Kane will also captain England on his first international appearance since joining Bayern Munich this summer. Due to the ongoing Russian invasion of their country, Ukraine have been playing their international matches in Poland with this game going ahead in Wroclaw. Southgate’s team selection with be a hot topic of conversation with Harry Maguire set to feature despite only making one appearance for Manchester United this season and Raheem Sterling excluded from the squad. England’s qualifier against Ukraine in their only competitive match of September’s international break but they also play Scotland in a friendly on Tuesday. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the match, plus all the latest football odds and the latest offers and tips ahead of Ukraine vs England here: When is Ukraine vs England? Ukraine host England in the Euro 2024 qualifiers on Saturday 9 September at the Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw, Poland with kick off at 5pm. Where can I watch it? Channel 4 will be airing the game in the UK and have exclusive live coverage of the rest of England’s Euro 2024 qualifiers. Coverage is scheduled to start at 4pm and is available to watch via a free live stream on the Channel 4 website and app. What is the team news? Mykhailo Mudryk returned to action for Chelsea at the weekend as he overcame an injury and is in line to start for Ukraine but experienced midfielders Ruslan Malinovskyi and Yevhen Konoplyanka have not been included in Serhiy Rebrov’s squad. John Stones, Reece James and Mason Mount are all missing due to injuries with Raheem Sterling and James Ward-Prowse not selected. Jordan Henderson could feature despite moving to the Saudi Pro League while Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jack Grealish have withdrawn from the squad. Marcus Rashford, Phil Foden and James Maddison are competing to join Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka in the forward line. Predicted line-ups Ukraine XI: Trubin, Konoplya, Zabarnyi, Kryvtsov, Matviyenko, Stepanenko, Sudakov, Yarmolenko, Buyalskyi, Tsygankov, Vanat England XI: Pickford, Walker, Guehi, Maguire, Chilwell, Rice, Henderson, Bellingham, Saka, Kane, Rashford Odds and tips Ukraine 7/1 Draw 7/2 England 12/25 Latest odds here. Prediction England have dominated Group C during this qualifying campaign and will once again get the better of Ukraine despite missing a few key players. An impressive victory will all but confirm their place at next summer’s Euros. England 3-0 Ukraine Read More England can benefit from Harry Kane’s move to Bayern Munich – Gareth Southgate Premier League playing time for England-qualified players drops again Raheem Sterling may have no way back as Gareth Southgate shows his hard edge

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