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Germany win

Ross DunbarNovember 14, 2014

It was a simple evening's work for Germany with Gibraltar offering little resistance. Robert Lewandowski's Poland leads the pack, adding another three points away in Georgia.

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Fußball Europameisterschaft 2016 Qualifikation Deutschland - Gibraltar
Image: Getty Images/M. Dalder

Germany bounced back to their winning ways in the Euro 2016 qualifiers with a routine 4-0 victory against minnows Gibraltar. It's the first win for Joachim Löw's men in two games after losing ground to Poland and Ireland.

But the meeting with Gibraltar, not even recognized by FIFA, was always expected to go Germany's way. Indeed, many expected the world champions to inflict serious damage on their opponents who had lost seven goals at the Republic of Ireland earlier.

Jamie Robba, the Gibraltar goalkeeper, kept the ball out of his net after a peppering of shots in the first 10 minutes. But it was his mistake that broke the deadlock, as he fumbled Shkodran Mustafi's cross, allowing Thomas Müller to bundle home the opener for his 26th international goal.

The Bayern Munich forward bagged a hat-trick last weekend in the Bundesliga and grabbed his second on 29 minutes, poking home Lukas Podolski's low-cross. A few minutes later, a sharp combination between Max Kruse and Mario Götze freed the latter to tuck home a very tidy third goal for the Germans.

To their credit, Gibraltar enjoyed a few minutes of pressure towards the end of the half. They earned their first corner-kick of the game, and then Liam Walker's spectacular volley from 30 yards forced Manuel Neuer into a sharp, reactive save - just moments before the half-time interval.

Fußball Europameisterschaft 2016 Qualifikation Deutschland - Gibraltar
The goals weren't pretty, but at least Müller was on the end of themImage: Getty Images/M. Hangst

Scotland and Poland win, Ronaldo on top

Germany's Group D rivals were also in action with Poland strolling to a 4-0 win in Georgia to keep them at the top of the table.

But the key clash was in Glasgow where Shaun Maloney's late goal handed Scotland a vital three points against the Republic of Ireland at a sell-out Celtic Park.

Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo became the all-time leading European Championship goalscorer with 23 goals for the Portuguese national side. He netted his 52nd international goal as his side edged out Armenia by one goal to nil.

In the same group, Wolfsburg's Nicklas Bendtner scored as Denmark secured a 3-1 win in Serbia behind closed doors.

Elsewhere, the Faroe Islands snatched a rare victory from the hands of Greece - their fourth win in 24 years in international football. There were also wins for Hungary and Romania in the same Euro 2016 section.

All Results:

Group D -

Germany 4-0 Gibraltar

Scotland 1-0 Ireland

Georgia 0-4 Poland

Group F:

Greece 0-1 Faroe Islands

Hungary 1-0 Finland

Romania 2-0 Northern Ireland

Group I -

Portugal 1-0 Armenia

Serbia 1-3 Denmark