MURCIA, Spain :Ukraine came from behind to beat visitors Belgium 3-1 in the first leg of their Nations League playoff on Thursday, moving into a strong position to earn promotion to the competition’s top tier, with Scotland and Turkey also winning.
Ukraine’s Oleksiy Hutsulyak, Vladyslav Vanat and Ilya Zabarnyi secured the comeback after Romelu Lukaku had put Belgium in front after 40 minutes, nodding home from a Kevin De Bruyne free kick in coach Rudi Garcia’s first game in charge.
Ukraine, who hosted Belgium in the Spanish city of Murcia, started well and forced Thibaut Courtois into two early saves.
But the returning goalkeeper, who has not played for Belgium for almost two years amid a fallout with their former coach Domenico Tedesco, was barely tested again in the first half and captain Lukaku opened the scoring just before the break.
The 31-year-old forward headed home his first Belgium goal since November 2023.
In a more lively second half, De Bruyne could have doubled the lead for Belgium through a low attempt from the edge of the area that was brilliantly saved by Ukraine keeper Andriy Lunin.
However, Ukraine then grew into the game and hit back through Hutsulyak, who capitalised on a mistake by the Belgium defence to level in the 66th minute.
Vanat gave them the lead seven minutes later, firing past the diving Courtois from close range, and Zabarnyi made it 3-1 in the 78th with an acrobatic first touch.
Ukraine travel to Belgium for the return leg on Sunday, with all higher-ranked teams hosting the second-leg games.
Belgium, who got four points from six games as they finished third in League A Group Two, face their first relegation from the competition’s top tier since its creation in 2018.
SCOTLAND ADVANTAGE
Scotland earned a 1-0 advantage over Greece among the other League A/B playoff ties after Scott McTominay converted a first-half penalty following a foul by Lazaros Rota to make it 11 goals in his last 22 international appearances.
Turkey beat Hungary 3-1 in the early kick-off after Orkun Kokcu gave them an early lead.
Hungary’s Andras Schafer levelled but Kerem Akturkoglu and Irfan Can Kahveci netted quick-fire goals for Turkey in the second half, sealing the win for the hosts.
Austria drew 1-1 with visiting Serbia after Michael Gregoritsch gave the hosts the lead in the first half before Lazar Samardzic equalised just past the hour mark.
In the League B/C playoffs Ireland recovered to overcome hosts Bulgaria 2-1, Kosovo beat visitors Iceland 2-1, Slovakia drew 0-0 at home to Slovenia and Georgia beat Armenia 3-0 away.
