England smash Serbia 5-0; Ronaldo strikes in Portugal’s Hungary win

England sent out a warning to their World Cup rivals with a brilliant 5-0 thrashing of Serbia in qualifying on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Europe, Portugal and France overturned deficits to make it back-to-back wins to open their bids to reach next year's tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The quality of Thomas Tuchel's England was questioned after a laborious 2-0 win over Andorra at Villa Park on Saturday, but they produced a resounding answer.

"The players did excellent. The credit goes to them, they did amazing. That's the bar," manager Tuchel told ITV Sport.

England dominated the early stages in Belgrade and took the lead in the 33rd minute when Harry Kane headed home his 74th international goal from a Declan Rice corner.

The visitors doubled their advantage two minutes later, as Noni Madueke raced onto an excellent flick-on from Morgan Rogers, kept his composure and dinked the ball beyond Serbia goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic.

Seven minutes into the second half, Ezri Konsa pounced on a loose ball after a free-kick to score his first international goal.

Another Rice set-piece provided England's fourth, as Marc Guehi slid to meet his free-kick, given for the foul on Kane by Nikola Milenkovic which earned the Nottingham Forest centre-back a straight red card.

Substitute Marcus Rashford rounded off a perfect night for his team with a late spot-kick.

England could qualify for an eighth-successive World Cup in their next Group K game when they visit Latvia next month.

The other match in the group saw Albania leapfrog Serbia into second place, edging out Latvia 1-0 in Tirana.

France edge Iceland

Iceland made a dream start at the Parc des Princes as Arni Gudjohnsen, son of former Chelsea striker Eidur and playing alongside younger brother Daniel, put the away team ahead against France in the 21st minute.

France equalised on the stroke of half-time through a Kylian Mbappe penalty.

Mbappe turned provider as Didier Deschamps' men moved in front, racing onto Aurelien Tchouameni's ball over the top before squaring for Bradley Barcola to tap into an empty net.

Les Bleus clung on for a 2-1 success despite Tchouameni's sending off and a late effort from Arni Gudjohnsen that was disallowed by VAR.

France, World Cup runners-up in 2022, sit three points clear of Iceland in Group D, with Ukraine and Azerbaijan two points further adrift after playing out a 1-1 draw in Baku.

"We were punished for our only mistake. We created lots of chances but we are capable of doing better," said Deschamps.

Portugal beat Hungary

Portugal clinched a 3-2 win over Hungary at the Puskas Arena, backing up their opening Group F victory, 5-0 against Armenia last week.

Barnabas Varga gave the home side the lead before Bernardo Silva's leveller for Portugal.

Cristiano Ronaldo netted a record-extending 141st international goal with a spot-kick just before the hour.

Varga thought he had grabbed a point for Hungary, only for Joao Cancelo to snatch all three for Portugal with four minutes left.

"I loved the attitude and focus -- we just needed to control the game and take it where we wanted," said Portugal coach Roberto Martinez.

Hungary slipped to third in the standings behind Armenia who beat Ireland 2-1.