Cristiano Ronaldo and Romelu Lukaku score hat-tricks as Portugal and Belgium cruise past minnows
Real Madrid superstar is just one goal away from breaking a World Cup qualifying record set in 1998
CRISTIANO RONALDO broke the great Pele's international record in some style as Portugal put five past the Faroe Islands.
The Real Madrid superstar scored a hat-trick to take his total Portugal tally to 78... one more than the Brazil legend.
Ronaldo also scored his 14th goal to equal the record for the most World Cup qualifying goals in a campaign.
The joint record is currently held with Yugoslavia's Predrag Mijatovic set before the 1998 World Cup in France.
It took just three minutes for Ronaldo to open the scoring before he doubled Portugal's advantage from the spot after 29 minutes.
Faroe Islands did give the small section of travelling fans something to cheer on 38 minutes but William Carvalho, Ronaldo and Nelson Oliveira put the minnows to the sword.
But the Euro 2016 winners remain second in Group B as Switzerland beat Andorra 3-0.
Elsewhere Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku also grabbed a hat-trick as 10-man Belgium put nine past Gibraltar.
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Roberto Martinez's side were 6-0 ahead at half-time with Chelsea's Eden Hazard also on the scoresheet.
But their night was soured by a red card with Axel Witsel giving his marching orders for a dangerous lunge.
PSG's Thomas Meunier also scored a hat-trick as Belgium continue to cruise their way to Russia.
Meanwhile in Group H, Greece could only manage a 0-0 draw with Estonia, whilst Cyprus stunned Bosnia in a 3-2 win.
Hungary are still in the hunt for World Cup qualification with a 3-1 win over Latvia as Luxembourg narrowly beat Belarus 1-0.
Syria are also remarkably just one win away from playing in Russia after their 3-1 win over Qatar.