Haaland prepares for the Austria match

The star striker is now Norway's all-time top scorer after his brace against Slovenia.

Erling Haaland is now also the record man in the Norwegian football shirt. The 24-year-old star striker scored twice in Norway's 3-0 win at home to Slovenia in Austria's Nations League Group B3 on Thursday evening, and now has 34 international goals. No other citizen has scored more. Among the major countries, France celebrated its 4-1 victory over Israel in Budapest, and Italy and Belgium tied 2-2 in an entertaining match.

The Norwegians were wide awake in Oslo from the start. Slovenia goalkeeper Jan Oblak blocked a shot from Antonio Nosa, but the ball reached Haaland, who scored with his right (7). For the Manchester City striker, it was his 33rd goal in his 36th international cap, equaling Norway's previous all-time top scorer Jurgen Juventus.

The hosts also got off to a strong start in the second half, with friendly help from the Slovenians. Defender Vanja Drkosic made two mistakes in one scene and passed the ball to Aleksandar Sorloth, who easily made it 2-0 (52). Ten minutes later it was Haaland who finished off a move from 14 meters again. With his 34th goal, the star, who scored the winner in a 2-1 win over ÖFB in September, wrote Norwegian sporting history.

Norway, which visits Linz on Sunday, snatched the top spot from the Slovenians (4) after three rounds and seven points. They dropped to third place behind Austria, which beat Kazakhstan 4-0.

France without problems

Without the injured Kylian Mbappé, France achieved a practical victory over Israel, which was playing its home match in Budapest due to the escalating conflict in the Middle East. The vice world champion took the lead through Eduardo Camavinga, who fired an innocuous shot past goalkeeper Omri Glazer (sixth place). After a decisive pass from Salzburg's Oscar Galloch, the Israelis equalized through Omri Gandelman (24). Four minutes later, Christopher Nkunku made it 2-1 with a strong individual performance. Matteo Guendouzi (87) and Bradley Barcola (89) made it clear shortly before the end.

In Rome, Italy attacked Belgium in the first minute. Federico Dimarco found Andrea Cambiasso who slotted the ball home exactly 60 seconds later to take the lead. Attack-like counterattacks have remained a tried and tested recipe for the home side. Matteo Retegui took advantage of a rebound from Cambiasso's shot to make it 2-0 (24th place).

But Squadra Azzurra brought Belgium back into the game. Lorenzo Pellegrini kicks Arthur Thiati in the Achilles tendon in front of his own penalty area (39). Referee Espen Eskas counted the red card after the video assistant referee intervened, but that was not enough, and Maxime De Cuyper scored the next goal from an original free kick (42). Leandro Trossard made it 2-2 after the break (61). Italy remains in first place in Group A2 with seven points, ahead of France (6) and Belgium (4).

Greece shocks England

There was a surprise defeat at home for England, which lost 2-1 to Greece in stoppage time. Evangelos Pavlidis gave the visitors three points at Wembley Stadium in the 94th minute. The Greeks achieved three victories after three rounds. (Abba)