FC Nantes Lorik Cana captained Albania to a 3-0 win over Group I rivals Armenia on Sunday to book a spot in UEFA Euro 2016 in France in what will be their first-ever major tournament at senior level.
Albania have in the past made appearances at UEFA's 1982 U-18 finals and at U16 level in 1994, but a 3-0 win over Armenia on Sunday now had Nantes stopper Lorik Cana and his compatriots - including clubmate Ermir Lenjani -booked in for a first-ever UEFA Euro appearance in France 2016.
Historic
"When I first started playing for Albania 12 years ago, I never thought this day would come," admitted an ecstatic Cana after the match. "But we always tried and now we have managed to do it thanks to the willpower of this group, this fine generation of players."
While Lenjani spent the match on the bench, former Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille man Cana played the full 90 minutes as Armenia's Kamo Hovhannisyan opened the scoring with an own-goal (9', o.g.) before Berat Xhimshiti (23') and substitute Armando Sadiku (76') made sure of the three points that saw the Eagles leapfrog Denmark into second place.
The Danes, who counted among their number Toulouse's Martin Braithwaite and EA Guingamp pair Jonas Lössl and Lars Jacobsen, will now have to win through a play-off if they are to make it to France in 2016.
Moutinho makes the difference
Meanwhile, Monaco's João Moutinho scored the winner (78') as an already-qualified Portugal won 2-1 in Serbia to make sure of top spot in qualifying Group I. Nani had opened the scoring early (5') but Zoran Tosic's 65th-minute strike levelled matter before substitute Moutinho - whose clubmate Bernardo Silva was on the bench - popped p on the edge of the area to slam his shot into the roof of the net.
