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Looking to find their way back from the footballing wilderness, Italy took on Poland in their first ever Uefa Nations League match.

An under-par performance ended in a 1-1 draw for the Italians and, in truth, they were lucky to come away with that much.

Meanwhile, at Hampden Park, Scotland had a friendly against Belgium, fresh from their third-place finish at the World Cup in Russia.

In the end, it was a walk in the park for the Red Devils as they eased past the Scots in a 4-0 win.

Here are three winners and three losers from the two matches tonight.

1. Winner – Eden Hazard

It’s been a hell of a year on the international stage for Eden Hazard.

Three goals and two assists at the World Cup truly highlighted how much of a wonderful talent the Chelsea man is, as if we didn’t know already.

And tonight, he tore Scotland apart. Hazard scored a wonderful goal right at the start of the second half, his neat footwork earning him a yard of space before he hit an absolute rocket past Craig Gordon. He then set up Michy Batshuayi for Belgium’s third goal before being withdrawn and wrapped in cotton wool shortly after. A brilliant 56-minute performance from Eden Hazard.

2. Loser – Scottish football

With Scottish teams unable to make a major impact on European football since Rangers reached the 2008 Uefa Cup Final and no major tournament for the national team since 1998, it doesn’t need saying that Scottish football needs a major revamp.

However, friendly or not, tonight was another slip down the footballing ladder.

Playing at their famous Hampden Park stadium, tonight was a great chance for Scotland to show one of the best international teams in world football what they could do, to put up a real fight and give them a platform to build upon in the Nations League and beyond.

What Scotland got tonight was anything but that – the crowd was sparse to begin with and, with a terrible performance on the pitch, they received no help from the players in getting up for the game.

A 4-0 mauling was flattering to Scotland as they gifted Belgium goals, possession and territory throughout the game – the gulf in class during tonight’s game was both apparent and worrying.

3. Winner – Romelu Lukaku 

Four goals at the World Cup for Belgium, three goals in four games for United so far this season and another goal tonight – the second half of 2018 has been very kind to Romelu Lukaku so far.

In truth, Lukaku should probably have had more than just the one goal tonight, but the one he did get leaves him on 11 goals in 11 games for Belgium this year.

And with Michy Batshuayi coming on and getting himself two goals in the second half, Lukaku will be staying on his toes to make sure standards don’t slip.

4. Loser – Roberto Mancini

Roberto Mancini hasn’t been quiet in his criticism of Italian clubs not trusting their homegrown youngsters and, on tonight’s evidence, he has a real mountain to climb if he is to restore Italy as one of the superpowers of international football.

An awfully flat performance saw the Italians take until the 73rd minute to register a shot on target and it took a Jorginho penalty for them to level the scores after Piotr Zielinski had given Poland a half-time lead.

Given their struggles of late, a 1-1 draw at home is not how the Azzurri wanted to get their Uefa Nations League campaign underway.

5. Winner – Robert Lewandowski 

Bayern Munich’s goal machine didn’t get himself on the scoresheet for Poland tonight but that isn’t to say that his performance suffered as a result.

The 30-year-old supported Piotr Zielinski brilliantly, setting up the Napoli man’s opening goal, and was a livewire throughout the game.

He didn’t allow the likes of Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci a second to relax and really deserved to get himself a goal tonight.

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