{"id":1105126,"date":"2019-09-05T21:56:10","date_gmt":"2019-09-05T20:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1105126"},"modified":"2019-09-06T13:54:59","modified_gmt":"2019-09-06T12:54:59","slug":"euro-2020-qualifiers-sergio-ramos-spain","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/euro-2020-qualifiers-sergio-ramos-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Euro 2020 qualifiers: Five things you might have missed as Sergio Ramos rises up the rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Euro 2020 qualifying was in full swing on Thursday night as the Republic of Ireland gained a priceless 1-1 draw at home against Switzerland.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mick McCarthy’s men had gone behind to a second-half goal from Newcastle United’s Fabian Schar but hit back with a late equaliser from David McGoldrick \u2013 his first international goal \u2013 and now look good value for top spot in Group D.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/audioboom.com\/posts\/7360490-squawka-talker-special-champions-league-2019-20-preview<\/p>\n

Thursday also saw the likes of Italy, Spain, Denmark and Sweden all battle for points to make sure they’re in the hat for next summer’s showpiece tournament.<\/p>\n

So, here are five things you may have missed from a busy night of football.<\/p>\n

1. Italy survive scare to remain on track<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Absent from the 2018 World Cup and generally unconvincing in the two tournaments before that, it’s been a tough old time for Italy. Their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign has been far more fruitful, however, with the Azzurri sitting pretty atop Group J with five wins from five, following their latest victory over Armenia.<\/p>\n

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Roberto Mancini – Italy<\/p><\/div>\n

These latest three points didn’t come easy, however, with Roberto Mancini’s side having to overcome an early goal from Alexander Karapetyan and it was only when Armenia’s hero was sent off after picking up a second yellow card that the Italians truly established their dominance in the game, eventually running out 3-1 winners. Goals from Andrea Belotti (x2) and substitute Lorenzo Pellegrini did the damage.<\/p>\n

Italy have a very favourable qualifying group which should give this young, new-look side plenty of time to gel ahead of their major tournament return next year but they’ll need to be far more cold-blooded when that stage comes around.<\/p>\n

2. Ramos takes another step up the ladder<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sergio Ramos doesn’t do things by halves, does he? The Real Madrid legend converted from the penalty spot once again on Thursday to put Spain 1-0 up at half-time away against Romania, after Dani Ceballos had been felled in the box. That strike moved Ramos to 10th in his country’s all-time goalscoring charts, level with Michel on 21, on what is his 166th cap for Spain. One more will see him equal Iker Casillas as La Roja’s most capped player of all time.<\/p>\n

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Sergio Ramos has now scored 21 senior international goals, equalling M\u00edchel has the 10th top-scoring male in Spain's history.<\/p>\n

Another from the spot. pic.twitter.com\/imzY952tLs<\/a><\/p>\n

— Squawka (@Squawka) September 5, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n