The World Cup qualifiers continue on the European continent on Saturday as a host of teams squared up against each other at various match venues.
It was a mouth-watering scenario in the UEFA zone as some of the best teams took to the pitch against their respective opponents.
Top players like Paul Pogba, Georginio Wijnaldum starred for their countries as the stage gets hotter in the European scene.
There were some shocking results as well with sides like Ukraine, Scotland and Israel claiming valuable points at home as we count down to the latter stages of the qualifiers in Europe.
On this note,Goalballive.com evaluates the World Cup qualifying round up across the European football sphere.
WORLD CUP-UEFA QUALIFICATION:1ST ROUND: GROUP A
Republic of Ireland 1-1 Azerbaijan
The Republic of Ireland side played out a 1-1 draw with the less fancied Azerbaijan side at home (Aviva, Stadium Ireland).
It was a shock result for the Irish side who could not secure the three points even at home against the so-called European minnows.
They also lost 2-1 to a Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal courtesy of 2 late goals from the new Manchester United signing.
Azerbaijan took the lead through Emin Makhmudov in the first-half injury time.
But Shane Duffy equalized late for Ireland in the 87th minute of the game thanks to an assist from Josh Cullen.
Serbia 4-1 Luxembourg
Elsewhere, Serbia thrashed Luxembourg 4-1 at the Stadio Rajko Mitic in Serbia. A first-half brace from Alexandar Mitrovic in the 22nd and 35th minute gave Serbia a 2-0 lead.
But Olivier Thill replied for Luxembourg with a goal to make it 2-1 in the 77th minute.
Further goals from Luxembourg's Maximo Chanot (an own goal) and Nikola Milenkovic's effort in the 82nd and 96th minute of the added time ensured the 4-1 win for Serbia.
WORLD CUP-QUALIFICATION:1ST ROUND: GROUP D
Finland 1-1 Kazakhstan
The Finish side claimed a 1-0 home win over their opponent Kazakhstan after 90 minutes of football.
They scored at the hour mark through Joel Pohjanpalo's solitary strike thanks to Jere Uronen's assist.
Ukraine 1-1 France
World Champions France was held to another draw in the space of three days as Ukraine held firm to make their mark in the encounter.
It ended 1-1 between both host Ukraine and the French side who managed to get an equalizer in the game.
Anthony Martial squeezed the ball in over the line for France after Ukraine had opened the scoring in exquisite fashion through Mykola Sharparenko’s shot outside the area.
He scored in the 44th minute for Ukraine while the international returning Martial’s scored in the 50th minute of the match.
WORLD CUP-UEFA QUALIFICATION: 1ST ROUND: GROUP F
Faroe Islands 0-1 Denmark
Denmark sealed a narrow 0-1 away win on the road at the Faroe Islands thanks to Jonas Wind’s 85th-minute goal.
Jonas Wind initially missed a chance to open the scoring for the Danish side in the 25th minute of the game.
Israel 5-2 Austria
Israel recorded one of the big wins in the UEFA qualification following their 5-2 thumping of Austria at home.
Goals from Manor Solomon, Munas Dabbur and Eran Zahavi gave the home side a 3-0 lead.
But Austria’s Christoph Bumgartner and former Stoke City forward Marko Arnautovic rallied back with 2 goals to make It 3-2.
However, Shon Weissman and Eran Zahavi restored Israel’s three-goal advantage with a fourth and fifth goal in the 59th and 90th minute respectively.
It finished 5-2 in favour of host Israel.
Scotland 1-0 Moldova
Scotland defeated Moldova with a lone goal from Lyndon Dykes as the Scottish side looked to bounce back from their poor run of form in the qualifiers.
Dykes got the goal for the home side in the 14th minute.
WORLD CUP –UEFA QUALIFICATION: 1ST ROUND: GROUP G
Latvia 0-2 Norway
The wantaway Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Braut Haaland opened the scoring for Norway thanks to a Penalty-kick in the 20th minute.
Mohamed Elyounoussi then doubled the advantage with the second goal for Norway in the 66th minute.
The goal sealed the win for Norway as they claimed a vital 0-2 away win at Latvia.
Gibraltar 0-3 Turkey
Turkey claimed a convincing 0-3 away win on the road at Gibraltar on Saturday night.
The Turkish side sealed the win courtesy of three second-half goals even though Enes Unai had earlier missed a penalty in the 4th minute for Turkey.
The trio of Halil Dervisoglu, Hakan Calhanoglu and Kenan Karaman scored to secure the three points and three goals win for the Turkish National side.
Netherlands 4-0 Montenegro
A brace from Barcelona forward Memphis Depay set the tone for a comfortable victory for the Orange side.
He scored in the 38th and 62nd minute to make it 2-0.PSG's Georginio Wijnaldum made it 3-0 with a superb finish inside the area.
While Cody Gakpo added gloss to the scoreline with the fourth goal in the 76th minute of the encounter to make it 4-0 for the Dutch team.
Elsewhere in the European qualifiers, other results include as follows:
WORLD CUP-UEFA QUALIFICATION: 1ST ROUND: GROUP H
Cyprus 0-2 Russia
Slovenia 1-0 Malta
Slovakia 0-1 Croatia
This article was most recently revised and updated 3 years ago