Greece 1-2 Belgium: Jan Vertonghen and Romelu Lukaku take advantage of five minutes of madness to secure Red Devils' 2018 World Cup qualification

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Belgium became the first European team to qualify for next year's World Cup when a Romelu Lukaku header gave them a 2-1 win away to Greece on Sunday with the goals coming in five-minutes of madness.

Belgium became the sixth team to make sure of their place at the 2018 tournament alongside Brazil, Japan, Iran and Mexico, plus Russia who qualify automatically as hosts.

The win left Belgium with 22 points from eight games at the top of Group H, eight clear of Bosnia who won 4-0 away to Gibraltar. They each have two games to play.

Romelu Lukaku scored the 75th-minute winner to see Belgium into next summer's World Cup in a 2-1 victory over Greece

Five minutes of madness saw Belgium take the lead twice through Jan Vertonghen (pictured) and then Lukaku

Roberto Martinez's team are now nine points clear of Greece who will await the play-offs for the World Cup hosted by Russia

Defender Jan Vertonghen celebrates his long-range strike which gave Belgium the lead with just 20 minutes to go in Athens

Greece equalised just three minutes after Vertonghen broke the deadlock through Portuguese-born winger Zeca

The winners of the nine European groups qualify directly and the best eight runners-up play off for four more places.

Belgium were missing defender Vincent Kompany after he took a knock in the 9-0 win over Gibraltar on Thursday while Eden Hazard started on the bench.

Greece managed to stifle Belgium with a five-man defence in the first half and twice came close to scoring on the break.

Anastasios Donis surged forward from midfield and tested Thibaut Courtois, then Konstantinos Stafylidis produced a thumping drive which was heading for the top corner until the goalkeeper tipped it away.

Defender Jan Vertonghen was on hand, though, to put the Belgian supporters at ease, giving his side the lead in the 70th minute with a thunderous left-footed drive into the bottom corner.

But Belgium's celebrations were cut short three minutes later when Greece's Portugal-born Zeca side-footed home to equalise after Georgios Tzavelas sent over a pinpoint cross.

But one minute after that, Lukaku brought the Belgian following and bench to their feet as he headed into the far corner from Thomas Meunier, and put his side through. 

Lukaku's winner carries more significance than first recognised, however. The Manchester United striker has now scored the decisive qualifying goals in his country's past two World Cup qualification campaigns. 

But Lukaku scored his 10th goal of the World Cup qualifying campaign just moments after Greece's equaliser

Four years ago, aged just 20 years old, Lukaku scored a brace against Croatia to send his country to the 2014 World Cup hosted by Brazil.

It wasn't just Lukaku who was setting landmarks and reaching targets though; team-mate Thibaut Courtois was also making his 50th international appearance for Belgium but, sadly for him, he was unable to provide a clean-sheet to accompany his milestone appearance.

Greece, on the other hand, dropped to third in the table with 13 points after managing only one point from two home games in the space of four days.

Bosnia, beaten 3-2 away by Cyprus after squandering a two-goal lead on Thursday, took full advantage of the Greek defeat to reclaim second spot, with Edin Dzeko scoring twice against Gibraltar. 

Cyprus' outside hopes of making the playoffs suffered a setback when they lost 1-0 to Estonia where Mattias Kaeit scored in the final minute. Cyprus are fourth with 10 points followed by Estonia on eight. 

Lukaku has now scored Belgium's decisive qualifying goals in their previous two World Cup qualification campaigns, while team-mate and Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois earned his 50th international appearance for his country

Vertonghen's Belgium team-mates celebrate his wonder-strike to give them a late lead over the Greeks

Greece have now dropped to third in Group H, one point behind Bosnia putting their runners-up hopes in jeopardy 

World ranked ninth, Belgium became the sixth team to qualify for the major tournament held by Russia next summer