With Scotland on the verge of winning a spot at next year’s tournament, Scott McTominay surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane as the joint best scorer in European Championship qualifying.

On the same night that Lamine Yamal became the youngest player to score for Spain and the youngest player to score in a European qualification during Spain’s 7-1 triumph against Georgia, Scott McTominay maintained his unexpecteԀ goal spree as the Scots extended their 100% record in Group A with a 3-0 win against Cyprus.

McTominay, a midfielder for Manchester United, scored his sixth goal in Euro 2024 qualifying to keep Scotland one point ahead of Spain in Group I with 15 points.

To qualify for the tournament in Germany, Scotland needs two more points.

McTominay is tied for first in scoring with Rasmus Hojlund (also a United player) of Denmark and Romelu Lukaku (formerly of United).

Both Ronaldo and Kane have scored five times.

McTominay’s assist gives him the edge over the competition for most goals contributed by an individual player in qualification.

He said his goal-scoring streak was thanks to Scotland’s coach Steve Clarke.

To make things happen, “the manager gives me a lot of freedom to get in the box,” McTominay added. He’s put a lot of trust in me, and I want to do everything I can to return the favor.

“My only goal is to make the people of Scotland happy. My team and I are doing a good job of that right now.”

At AEK Arena in Larnaca, McTominay scored the first goal after just six minutes, and 16 minutes later, Ryan Porteous added another.

In the 30th, John McGinn chipped in with a third.

If Tuesday’s game between Norway and Georgia ends in a tie, Scotland will qualify automatically.

Spain is in second place with six points despite having played two fewer games than Scotland and losing to the group leader early on.

NEW WORLD RECORD

Yamal, then 16 years and 57 days old, broke two records with his goal in the 74th minute of the match against Georgia.

He surpassed the legendary Gareth Bale of Real Madrid and Wales to become the youngest player to score a goal in European qualifying. In 2006, Bale scored for Wales against Slovakia when he was 17 years and 83 days old.

Yamal is the youngest goalscorer for Spain. He was older than the previous record holder, Gavi, who had scored for his country at the age of 17 years and 10 months.

Yamal said, “I just Һit the ball where my body and soul told me to. There were no nerves at all.” So long.

Yamal also broke Gavi’s record of being the youngest player to play for Spain, which he set in 2021 at the age of 17 years and 62 days.

Even though Alvaro Morata scored a hat trιck in the annihilation of Georgia, his performance was overshadowed by Yamal’s record-setting night.

CELEBRATION ON BOTH SIDES

Bruno Fernandes scored the game-winning goal for Portugal in their 1-0 victory over Slovakia on his 29th birthday.

The Portuguese have started their European qualifying campaign under new coach Roberto Martinez with a perfect record of five wins from five games played in Group J. This is the finest start Portugal has ever had to a European qualifying campaign.

After beating Iceland 3-1, Luxembourg now has 10 points in European or World Cup qualifying, matching its highest total ever.

After a 2-1 loss against Bosnia & Herzegovina, Liechtenstein has no chance of advancing out of last place.

CROATIA ON THE RISE

Bruno Petkovi scored twice as Croatia defeated Latvia 5-0 to improve to second place in Group D.

In spite of having two games in hand, the World Cup bronze medalist is presently three points behind Turkey.

Bertug Yildirim scored the equalizer for Turkey in the 88th minute, and the teams ended up drawing 1-1.