Battling Ireland hold Germany

Ronaldo powers Portugal home

World champions Germany stumbled again in their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign on Tuesday, drawing 1-1 with the Republic of Ireland on a night where Cristiano Ronaldo and a flying drone made headlines elsewhere.

Ronaldo's late header gave Portugal a 1-0 win in Denmark to kickstart their qualifying campaign, but the meeting between Serbia and Albania in the same Group I was abandoned after crowd trouble in Belgrade.

Germany had suffered their first qualifying defeat since 2007 at the weekend, losing 2-0 in Poland in Group D, but the World Cup winners were greeted by a huge fan mosaic at one end of the stadium in Gelsenkirchen which read simply 'Thank You', proving that such a defeat could not overshadow their heroics of July.

Borussia Dortmund's Erik Durm, who went to the World Cup but did not play, smashed a shot off the bar in the first half before a precise Toni Kroos strike in the 71st minute gave Joachim Loew's men the lead.

But Ireland stunned their hosts by equalising in the fourth minute of added time with their first effort on target from veteran defender John O'Shea.

The result means Poland are top of Group D from Ireland on goal difference, with Scotland and Germany three points further back, while Georgia beat Gibraltar 3-0 to record their first points.

In Warsaw, Poland took the lead against Gordon Strachan's side through Krzysztof Maczynski, but Shaun Maloney and Steven Naismith found the net for Scotland, leaving the hosts requiring a magnificent Arkadiusz Milik goal to earn a 2-2 draw in a thrilling match.

In Copenhagen, Cristiano Ronaldo headed in Ricardo Quaresma's cross in the fifth minute of injury time to score his 51st international goal and give Portugal victory against their Danish hosts in their first competitive game under new coach Fernando Santos.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland made it three wins from three in Group F with a remarkable 2-0 victory away to Greece in Piraeus, Jamie Ward and Kyle Lafferty finding the net either side of half-time for Michael O'Neill's side.

A brace from Bogdan Stancu gave Romania a 2-0 win in Finland and Adam Szalai's solitary effort handed Hungary a 1-0 triumph in the Faroe Islands.In England's Group E, Switzerland recorded their first points with a 4-0 victory away to hapless San Marino.