John Tavares set up two goals and scored one of his own with 5:33 remaining to complete the Toronto Maple Leafs’ comeback in a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Friday at the NHL’s Global Series in Sweden.

Toronto entered the third period down 2-0 but Tyler Bertuzzi scored at 3:50 and William Nylander netted the equalizer with 6:57 left before Tavares’ seventh goal of the season 1:24 later gave the Maple Leafs their first lead of the game.

Nylander also had a goal and two assists to extend his franchise-record season-opening point streak to 16 games.

Ilya Samsonov made 27 saves as Toronto won its third straight and fourth in five games.

Daniel Sprong scored on a penalty shot and Lucas Raymond had the other goal for Detroit, which dropped to 1-2-2 in its last five.

The game was the second of four over five days at Avicii Arena in Stockholm. Ottawa beat Detroit on Thursday, and Minnesota will play the Senators on Saturday and the Maple Leafs on Sunday in the first four-team series outside North America.

Perfetti scores again as Jets win

Cole Perfetti scored in a fifth straight game and the Winnipeg Jets held off the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2.

Mason Appleton and Nikolaj Ehlers had the other goals and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 25 shots as Winnipeg notched its fifth win in six games.

Alex Tuch and JJ Peterka scored for the Sabres, who have lost three in a row.

Eric Comrie made 15 saves in his first action since suffering a lower-body injury on Oct. 27.

Stolarz the difference in Panthers’ win

Anthony Stolarz stopped 33 shots to make two first-period goals hold up as the Florida Panthers held on for a 2-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks.

Stolarz allowed only Frank Vatrano’s power-play goal in the second period before turning away all 16 Anaheim shots in the third period.

Jakob Silfverberg thought he scored the tying goal midway through the third period, but there was no conclusive evidence to show that the puck crossed the goal line.

Anton Lundell set up goals by Eetu Luostarinen and Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the first period as Florida rebounded from Thursday’s loss to Los Angeles and won for the sixth time in seven games.

Former British number one Elena Baltacha announced her retirement from tennis on this day in 2013.

Baltacha was Britain’s top-ranked player for 132 weeks between 2009 and 2012 and reached a career-high ranking of 49 in 2010, but subsequently struggled with injury.

The Kyiv-born Scot died of liver cancer in May 2014 at the age of 30.

A Fed Cup stalwart, Baltacha’s CV also contained wins over top-10 players Li Na and Francesca Schiavone, while her best grand slam performances saw her reach the third round at the Australian Open in 2005 and 2010 and at Wimbledon in 2002.

“It just feels it’s the right time,” Baltacha said when announcing her retirement.

“My body has taken such a bruising over the last 16 years and that’s finally taken its toll.

“I have had some amazing experiences through playing tennis – some incredible highs and some very low lows – and I wouldn’t change any of them, but now my mind and my body are telling me it’s time to move on to a new phase of my life.

“I still absolutely love tennis and I want to take that passion and put it into learning to be the best coach I can be so that I can take all my experiences as a player and use that to help develop the next generation of British tennis players.”

Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali has refused to apologise for the farcical opening to this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.

After months of hype leading up to the £500million race, opening practice was abandoned with just eight minutes on the clock on Thursday night.

The second running was delayed by two-and-a-half hours, and then took place in front of vacant grandstands after furious fans were ejected to comply with local employment laws. Practice finished at 4am on Friday morning.

But in a 650-word joint statement by Domenicali, and CEO of the Las Vegas race, Renee Wilm, the sport’s red-faced bosses stopped short of saying sorry.

“We have all been to events, like concerts, games and even other Formula One races, that have been cancelled because of factors like weather or technical issues,” they said.

“It happens, and we hope people will understand.”

Fans who held a 200 US dollar (£160) general admission ticket for Thursday’s two practice sessions have been offered a voucher for the same amount to be redeemed on merchandise.

But those in attendance on a three-day pass – the cheapest of which is 500 US dollars (£400) – will not receive any compensation.

The statement continued: “We know this was disappointing. We hope our fans will understand that we had to balance many interests, including the safety and security of all participants and the fan experience over the whole race weekend.

“So how will we address this tonight?

“We have worked overnight to adjust our staffing plans across security, transportation and hospitality to ensure that we can function and serve fans with the best possible experience in the event of an extended race schedule.

“We are excited about the racing today and thank our entire team and our fans for their support. We know this is going to be a great event. With that, let’s get back to racing.”

Qualifying for Saturday’s 50-lap race will take place at midnight local time (8am GMT on Saturday).

Gareth Southgate said England’s players fell short of the standards they “need to be at” against Malta but had no concerns about their attitude and aptitude ahead of next summer’s European Championship.

Nobody at Wembley expected anything other than a victory from the side ranked fourth in the world against the one nestled between Fiji and Bermuda in 171st.

But already-qualified England made hard work of a straightforward Group C qualifying assignment on Friday, with Enrico Pepe’s own goal giving the hosts a lead in a first half in which they failed to muster a single shot on target.

Harry Kane added another after a rare moment of quality interplay in the second half as Southgate’s side limped to a 2-0 victory that all but assures their place among the top seeds at next month’s Euro 2024 draw.

“We didn’t start the game well,” the England boss said. “I’ve been in football for 35 years and if you don’t start well, it’s really difficult to pick it up.

“We needed, of course, to show better quality with the ball but also we were a bit stretched without it and a little bit disjointed in our pressing at times.

“We were not the level we would want to be at. We were not the level that we need to be at.

“But, equally, this group of players have been exceptional and I’m not going to start getting into their ribs too much about a performance like tonight.

“We made a few changes, we didn’t hit the levels we would have liked to have but they managed to win the game.

“Not in the style we’d have liked for the supporters but, in the end, we’ve won comfortably, as we should.”

England now head onto Skopje to complete their Euro 2024 qualification campaign against North Macedonia as preparations continue for next summer.

Glory in Germany is the sole focus and Southgate dismissed the suggestion that his players taking their foot off the gas at home to Malta was a worrying sign.

“No, it’s not a worry because I think sometimes when players have so many matches they almost self-regulate,” Southgate said.

“I’ve been a player. You know that there’s a certain level you need to hit to beat Italy here and you know that you don’t have to hit that level to win today’s game.

“Although you would think that everybody would be at the same level all the time, that’s not the reality of football.

“I’ve played in those matches myself and there are nights where subconsciously you just do enough to win and I think that’s a little bit where we were tonight.”

England were below par for the most part on Friday, but Southgate still saw things he liked in their final home match of an unbeaten year.

“We scored a lovely second goal and I think there were some individual performances that were very positive,” he added.

“I thought Trent (Alexander-Arnold) was very, very good (in midfield). Him and Phil (Foden) in the first half were the two that looked like opening things up.

“I thought Marc Guehi had a very mature performance again. He’s really growing as an international footballer.

“It was lovely to get Cole Palmer on and give him a feel of things and I thought he looked really very comfortable in the environment.”

The result meant Malta ended qualification bottom of Group C with defeats in all eight of their games, but they showed signs of promise against the Euro 2020 runners-up.

Teddy Teuma went close to a famous opener just 28 seconds into the match at Wembley, where head coach Michele Marcolini praised his players’ efforts.

“I’m very proud of my players,” the Malta boss said. “I think they came here in Wembley without fear, always brave. We tried to be as offensive as possible.

“They reacted very, very well to falling behind. I think during these European qualifiers, we grew a lot and in these last matches against Ukraine and England played very well.

“For everything, to grow, we need time. I am very happy with our performance and the regret is we didn’t score. It would have been amazing.

“Apart from that, we wanted to make the fans proud and I think today the players put on the pitch the last drop of sweat I asked them to do yesterday.”

Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny has told Evan Ferguson to play without pressure as he attempts to enhance his blossoming reputation on the international stage.

The 19-year-old striker has shaken off a back injury to make himself available for Saturday evening’s final Euro 2024 qualifier against the Netherlands in Amsterdam and the chance to add to his tally of three goals in eight senior appearances for his country.

Ferguson’s presence at the Johan Cruyff Arena, where he played in Brighton’s 2-0 Europa League win over Ajax last week, will excite the travelling support, although Kenny is keen not to place too much weight on his young shoulders.

He said: “It’s important not to expect too much. We’ve to be cognisant of his age. He’s made the breakthrough and played international football at 18.

“He’s just turned 19. He’s got an all-round game and a few goals already for Ireland.

“He was in this stadium last week, of course. He’s been very positive this week, very positive.

“He could easily have pulled out of the squad or opted to pull out having not been available for his club last week.

“He’s here, determined to well and deserves a lot of credit for that. We’re looking forward to it.

“There’ll be no pressure on him tomorrow. We want him to enjoy his football and show his quality.”

Ferguson missed September’s 2-1 home defeat by the Dutch – who would clinch their place at the finals along with leaders France with a win – due to a knee injury and was a frustrated bystander as Cody Gakpo’s penalty and a second goal from substitute Wout Weghorst overhauled Adam Idah’s opener.

That has been the story for much of a disappointing Group B campaign in which Ireland have beaten Gibraltar home and away, but have otherwise failed to pick up a single point.

Asked how much that had affected morale, Preston midfielder Alan Browne said: “Not as much as you might think.

“Given the circumstances, the opposition that we faced, it doesn’t hurt as much. When you try to go toe-to-toe with those teams and you’re not far off, you can take bit of credit, a bit of confidence from that.

“We try to stay as positive as we can. I’m not saying we’re happy to lose games – we’re obviously disappointed after every game we lose, even draws to a certain extent.

“We reflect on those games, we analyse them. When you see it back and see all the positives and the moments that have cost you, you kind of think there’s not an awful lot in it.

“Hopefully – it’s not going to be this campaign, but going into the next and the ones after it – if we can benefit from those performances and change those losses or draws into wins or into draws and keep accumulating as many point as we can, we can find ourselves in a better position.”

England continued their unbeaten run in European Championship qualification with a 2-0 win over Malta.

The Three Lions opened the scoring in the eighth minute when Enrico Pepe put through his own goal.

Many supporters inside Wembley Stadium would have imagined a few more goals but they were made to wait till the 75th minute before they saw another when Harry Kane netted from close range to seal victory.

Elsewhere in Group C, Italy boosted their chances of making Euro 2024 with a 5-2 win over North Macedonia.

Matteo Darmian opened the scoring for the Italians before Federico Chiesa gave them a healthy advantage thanks to his brace before the interval.

But, Italy were made to sweat in the second half when Jani Atanasov scored twice to reduce the deficit to just one but Giacomo Raspadori’s strike nine minutes from time and Stephan El Shaarawy’s late fifth wrapped up the win.

In Group E, Albania qualified despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Moldova.

Albania hit the front in the 25th minute when Sokol Cikalleshi slotted home a penalty and their celebrations were put on ice when Vladislav Baboglo equalised for the home side, but the scores stayed level to send Albania through.

Czech Republic held onto the second qualifying spot as they claimed a 1-1 draw with Poland in Warsaw.

Poland looked like they would leapfrog their opponents into second when Jakub Piotrowski gave them a 1-0 lead but West Ham’s Tomas Soucek proved to be the hero – four minutes after the break – when he fired the ball home from close range to edge them further to qualification and ended Poland’s hopes.

In Group H, Denmark qualified for the group stages following a 2-1 victory over Slovenia.

Joakim Maehle put Denmark in front but Erik Janza’s strike four minutes later sent the teams level into the break.

The all important winner was scored by Thomas Delaney, who poked home from close range to send the Danes through.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan kept their hopes of qualifying alive thanks to a 3-1 home victory over San Marino.

The hosts were expected to gain all three points and were on their way when Islam Chesnokov claimed a brace, scoring either side of the break.

For just the second time in the qualifying phase, San Marino got on the scoresheet when Simone Franciosi nodded home from close range but Kazakhstan restored their two-goal advantage thanks to Abat Aimbetov’s late penalty.

Northern Ireland were thrashed 4-0 at the hands of Finland and slumped to their seventh defeat in qualifying.

England’s final home match of the year will be remembered for the pre-match tributes to Sir Bobby Charlton rather than the football that followed as Gareth Southgate’s side limped to a 2-0 win against Malta.

Friday’s European Championship qualifier at Wembley saw the senior men’s team play their first match since the incredible 1966 World Cup winner died at the age of 86 last month.

A fan mosaic, video montage and minute’s applause formed part of a fitting farewell to Charlton before the current crop made hard work of a simple assignment against the side ranked 171st in the world.

Southgate is dealing with a number of absentees right now and his side are already assured of qualification for Euro 2024, but this was hardly the entertaining display he hoped to put on for the 81,388 in attendance.

It could have been worse given Teddy Teuma went close to a famous Maltese goal 28 seconds into a Group C encounter, but the hosts went ahead as Enrico Pepe turned Phil Foden’s cross into his own net.

Harry Kane was furious to see the referee book him for diving rather than pointing to the penalty spot as a tepid clash continued, with the Euro 2020 runners-up failing to muster a first-half shot on target for the first time in six years.

Things did not improve much after half-time but a rare moment of attacking coherency and quick-thinking saw Kane strike home 15 minutes from time.

Substitute Declan Rice saw a third ruled out for a contentious offside call on a night that all but assured England’s place among the top seeds in December’s Euro 2024 draw.

Southgate named a surprisingly-strong side against the Mediterranean minnows on Friday, showing just five changes from last month’s win against Italy.

Conor Gallagher was among those brought in and breathing a sigh of relief after he was dispossessed and Teuma flashed just wide from the edge of the box inside the opening minute.

It was a close shave and England quickly went ahead thanks to a moment of Maltese misfortune, with Foden’s attempted cutback ricocheting off Pepe and beating goalkeeper Henry Bonello.

Southgate’s side would not give up that eighth-minute lead, nor build on it during a lifeless first-half display.

Malta were far more impressive than they had been in June’s reverse fixture and Paul Mbong fired over after Harry Maguire saw a lax pass cut out.

England musted just two attempts across a wretched first half that saw fans entertain themselves with Mexican waves and paper planes.

They should, though, have seen a penalty after Kane went down as he rounded goalkeeper Bonello.

The skipper turned around expecting a spot-kick, only for referee Luis Godinho to show him a yellow card for simulation. The on-field decision was allowed to stand by the VAR.

Kyle Walker and Bukayo Saka replaced Gallagher and Fikayo Tomori at the break.

Maguire’s deflected, looping header from a corner was easily gathered and Marcus Rashford continued to be frustrated by Malta’s backline as the qualifier limped on.

Rashford and Trent Alexander-Arnold collided and the former was replaced by debutant Cole Palmer, while Rice came on for Jordan Henderson. The veteran again received boos from some fans.

Alexander-Arnold, deployed in midfield, saw a shot saved by Bonello and whipped another attempt over as England pushed for a second, which came through the familiar boot of Kane after 75 minutes.

Malta were dogged in their defending but quick interplay involving Walker, Foden and Saka ended with Kane firing home from close range.

A minute later England appeared to have added gloss to the scoreline.

Rice collected the ball, burst forward and whipped a fizzing 20-yard strike past Bonello, only for the goal to be ruled out upon VAR review for Kane being offside.

Yannick Yankam thrashed the ball just wide and Alexander-Arnold nearly caught out Malta’s goalkeeper as the clock wound down.

Many fans made an early exit and groans met the announcement that there would be six minutes of added time as the night ended in a 2-0 England win, just like Southgate’s first match against the same opposition in October 2016.

Italy avoided another damaging defeat to North Macedonia to keep their automatic Euro 2024 hopes in their own hands after a 5-2 win in Rome which belied the nerves they suffered in the second half.

The hosts almost squandered a three-goal lead at the interval after Juventus forward Federico Chiesa scored twice to spare Arsenal midfielder Jorginho further agony when he failed to take his shot at redemption from the penalty spot.

It was Jorginho’s last-minute spot-kick miss two years ago in a 1-1 draw against Switzerland which ultimately consigned Italy to a World Cup qualifying play-off and led to North Macedonia’s shock win in Palermo.

But while the 31-year-old, making his first start since June, was fluffing his lines again with the score at 1-0, there was no such profligacy from Chiesa who scored a quick double late in the first half to pave the way for a seemingly comfortable victory.

However, half-time substitute Jani Antonov scored a double of his own to crank up the tension in the Stadio Olimpico before Giacomo Raspadori’s 81st-minute strike eased the nerves and another substitute, Stephan El Shaarawy, scored the fifth in added time.

The win put Luciano Spalletti’s side into second place in Group C and means they now only need a draw against Ukraine in Leverkusen to avoid another dreaded play-off.

It was one-way traffic from the off but Raspadori’s clip past goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski in the 13th minute was ruled out for offside.

Three minutes later Chiesa, who caused Macedonia’s right side numerous problems all night, produced his first key intervention when he collected a return pass from Giacomo Bonaventura and saw his near-post shot denied.

However, from the resulting corner Raspadori’s cross was headed home by Matteo Darmian, his first international goal for eight years.

Chiesa was denied again by defender Jovan Manev before Nikola Serafimov’s handball from Federico Gatti’s close-range header led to Jorginho’s opportunity to banish the memories of two years ago but, having not scored for Italy in three years, he put a poor penalty too close to Dimitrievski.

But Chiesa came to his rescue, drilling home from the edge of the area after Macedonia failed to clear a throw-in from the right and then racing onto a Domenico Berardi through-ball to cut inside on his right foot and see his shot loop up off right-back Manev and over the goalkeeper.

The visitors were missing the injured Aleksandar Trajkovski, who had scored the winner in that play-off against Italy, but appeared to have found another hero in Atanasov.

Introduced for the second half, the 24-year-old scored with their first shot on target with his 52nd-minute header – his first international goal – leading to an unnecessary degree of tension for the hosts.

With 16 minutes remaining the pressure was ratcheted up when Atanasov’s drive from distance took a wicked deflection off Italy defender Franceso Acerbi but Raspadori and substitute El Shaarawy at least ended any fears of the necessity of a must-win final qualifier.

The Cincinnati Bengals will be without Joe Burrow for the rest of the season after the star quarterback tore a ligament in his right wrist during Thursday's loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

Head coach Zac Taylor made the announcement Friday, less than 24 hours after Burrow departed Cincinnati's 34-20 loss in the second quarter, and added that the 2022 Pro Bowl selection will likely undergo surgery.

Burrow grabbed his right wrist while in noticeable pain immediately after throwing a four-yard touchdown pass to Joe Mixon with 5:49 remaining in the second quarter. The 2020 No. 1 overall pick attempted to throw while on the sideline shortly after but was unable to grip the ball, then went into the locker room with the Bengals' training staff before being ruled out of the game after half-time.

"On the touchdown pass I just felt a pop in the middle of the throw," Burrow told reporters Friday. "I tried to give it a go, but I just couldn't get it done. Then I obviously got the news today, so not great."

Burrow's injury is potentially a major blow to a Cincinnati team currently outside the AFC playoff picture at 5-5, though the Bengals had recovered from a 1-3 start to win four straight prior to last week's loss to the Houston Texans.  

The 26-year-old led the Bengals to the AFC Championship game in each of the last two years, as well as an appearance in the Super Bowl during the 2021 season.

"You work so hard for seasons and moments like these, so whenever you get hurt and it ends early, it's tough to handle," Burrow said. "But that's part of the game. I've been through it before, so you've just to go grind it out."

Taylor said Jake Browning will make his first NFL start in place of Burrow when the Bengals host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Nov. 26.

An undrafted free agent who spent 2022 on Cincinnati's practice squad before making the active roster this season, Browning completed 8 of 14 passes for 68 yards and a touchdown after replacing Burrow on Thursday.

"Jake's worked for this opportunity his entire life," Taylor said. "He's prepared the right way. He's in the building as much as anybody on this team waiting for moments like this - obviously not [wanting] the way it happened to Joe.

"Really proud of the way he went in there with a calm attitude and was able to execute the plan, and give us a chance to move the ball and score some points."

This is the second major injury Burrow has encountered during his four-year NFL career, as a torn ACL ended his 2020 rookie season after 10 games. He returned to throw for over 4,400 yards in each of the last two seasons with a combined 69 touchdown passes to help the Bengals emerge as one of the AFC's top teams.

Burrow also played through a strained right calf he sustained in training camp this summer, though he did not miss a game. He finishes the season with 2,309 passing yards, 15 touchdown passes and six interceptions in 10 starts.

The NFL is expected to investigate the circumstances behind this latest injury, according to The Associated Press. Though Burrow was not listed on the Bengals' injury report for Thursday's game, the Bengals had posted a video of the quarterback getting off the team bus with his right hand appearing to be in a cast as he made his way to the stadium.

The Bengals later deleted the video.

The Phoenix Suns announced Friday that All-Star guard Bradley Beal will remain sidelined due to a lower back strain that has limited him to just three games this season.

Beal will be re-evaluated in three weeks, the club said in a statement, and this new timeline “was determined following further evaluation and consultation on his injury.”

Brought to Phoenix by a blockbuster offseason trade, Beal missed the Suns’ first seven games before making his debut on Nov. 8.

He averaged 17.3 points per game on 39.1-percent shooting in three games, then was a late scratch before the Suns’ win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.

Phoenix still has not had its All-Star trio of Beal, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker all available for the same game.

Booker has also only played three games this season while dealing with toe and calf injuries, but he returned Wednesday to score 31 points on 12-of-22 shooting.

The rash of early injuries has left the Suns with a 5-6 record to start the season as players like Eric Gordon and Grayson Allen have been thrust into larger roles.

Michael O’Neill could point to individual and collective mistakes after Northern Ireland lost 4-0 to Finland in their penultimate Euro 2024 qualifier but the inexperience of his young squad played a major role in Helsinki.

Northern Ireland played well for much of the first half but fell behind to Joel Pohjanpalo’s penalty just before the break, and Daniel Hakans then doubled the lead three minutes into the second half before substitutes Teemu Pukki and Robin Lod added to the score late on.

Ross McCausland made his debut from the start only days after being drafted in as injury cover on Monday, and there was also a late debut for Michael Forbes with O’Neill trying to make up for the raft of missing players.

But it was a sadly familiar story as O’Neill’s men were unable to capitalise on early chances before being punished at the other end.

“We played very well for 40 minutes in the game I thought,” O’Neill said. “We had a plan to make ourselves difficult to beat and to contain Finland and we did it very well, I can’t remember them having any opportunities in that period…

“We created one or two half chances we could have done better with. Then the penalty, for all the work you do in the first 40 minutes you end up going in 1-0 down at half-time because of a penalty.”

Isaac Price clipped Nikolai Alho on the edge of the box before Pohjanpalo sent Conor Hazard the wrong way.

“Probably it’s a challenge he’s better off not attempting,” O’Neill said. “There’s not a lot of contact but there’s enough. The player wasn’t really in a position to shoot, we could possibly have been able to block the shot…

“I was really pleased with the first 40 minutes but obviously by 48 minutes you’re in a really difficult position.”

Hakans’ strike was in many ways the killer blow, coming so early in the second half. The Valerenga winger skipped through four challenges before exchanging passes with Glen Kamara, beating Hazard at his near post.

O’Neill was disappointed with his stand-in goalkeeper, but also accepted more experienced players might have stopped the run by fair means or foul much further from goal.

“It’s a shot that I would not expect to beat my goalkeeper at the near post,” O’Neill said.

“You have to recognise the danger and there’s points in the game where maybe you have to make a technical foul as they call it and we didn’t do that. I felt probably that was something that if I was to be critical of, we didn’t win enough of those types of challenges through the 90 minutes.”

When Finland then introduced Pukki off the bench, with the former Norwich striker scoring the third and creating the fourth, the game quickly went away from Northern Ireland.

“That has been the big difference, the attacking players some of the opposition have had and we saw that tonight with goals three and four,” O’Neill said.

“We’ve got a group of players where a lot of them are new to international football. This is their first campaign. They’re coming into games and the games are going away from them. As a manager I have to support them and back them.

“They have to learn on the job and they’re having to learn quickly.”

The good news is that this miserable qualifying campaign is almost over, with only Monday’s match at home to Denmark remaining.

“When you come out of a defeat you look at the game from a tactical point of view and a performance point of view but what’s most important as a staff and a coach and a group of players is that people don’t question your character or mentality,” O’Neill said.

“That’s what we have to show again on Monday night.”

Michael O’Neill could point to individual and collective mistakes after Northern Ireland lost 4-0 to Finland in their penultimate Euro 2024 qualifier but the inexperience of his young squad played a major role in Helsinki.

Northern Ireland played well for much of the first half but fell behind to Joel Pohjanpalo’s penalty just before the break, and Daniel Hakans then doubled the lead three minutes into the second half before substitutes Teemu Pukki and Robin Lod added to the score late on.

Ross McCausland made his debut from the start only days after being drafted in as injury cover on Monday, and there was also a late debut for Michael Forbes with O’Neill trying to make up for the raft of missing players.

But it was a sadly familiar story as O’Neill’s men were unable to capitalise on early chances before being punished at the other end.

“We played very well for 40 minutes in the game I thought,” O’Neill said. “We had a plan to make ourselves difficult to beat and to contain Finland and we did it very well, I can’t remember them having any opportunities in that period…

“We created one or two half chances we could have done better with. Then the penalty, for all the work you do in the first 40 minutes you end up going in 1-0 down at half-time because of a penalty.”

Isaac Price clipped Nikolai Alho on the edge of the box before Pohjanpalo sent Conor Hazard the wrong way.

“Probably it’s a challenge he’s better off not attempting,” O’Neill said. “There’s not a lot of contact but there’s enough. The player wasn’t really in a position to shoot, we could possibly have been able to block the shot…

“I was really pleased with the first 40 minutes but obviously by 48 minutes you’re in a really difficult position.”

Hakans’ strike was in many ways the killer blow, coming so early in the second half. The Valerenga winger skipped through four challenges before exchanging passes with Glen Kamara, beating Hazard at his near post.

O’Neill was disappointed with his stand-in goalkeeper, but also accepted more experienced players might have stopped the run by fair means or foul much further from goal.

“It’s a shot that I would not expect to beat my goalkeeper at the near post,” O’Neill said.

“You have to recognise the danger and there’s points in the game where maybe you have to make a technical foul as they call it and we didn’t do that. I felt probably that was something that if I was to be critical of, we didn’t win enough of those types of challenges through the 90 minutes.”

When Finland then introduced Pukki off the bench, with the former Norwich striker scoring the third and creating the fourth, the game quickly went away from Northern Ireland.

“That has been the big difference, the attacking players some of the opposition have had and we saw that tonight with goals three and four,” O’Neill said.

“We’ve got a group of players where a lot of them are new to international football. This is their first campaign. They’re coming into games and the games are going away from them. As a manager I have to support them and back them.

“They have to learn on the job and they’re having to learn quickly.”

The good news is that this miserable qualifying campaign is almost over, with only Monday’s match at home to Denmark remaining.

“When you come out of a defeat you look at the game from a tactical point of view and a performance point of view but what’s most important as a staff and a coach and a group of players is that people don’t question your character or mentality,” O’Neill said.

“That’s what we have to show again on Monday night.”

France forward Kylian Mbappe is backing Paris St Germain midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery to become a future international star ahead of the visit of Gibraltar in Saturday’s Euro 2024 qualifier.

France are heavy favourites to make it seven wins from seven when they face Gibraltar at the Allianz Riviera and have all-but qualified for Euro 2024, while only conceding one goal so far in the qualifying phase.

Zaire-Emery, 17, is set to make his international debut after an impressive start to the Ligue 1 campaign, where he has scored two goals and claimed two assists in 11 appearances so far.

Mbappe, who made his debut in 2017 at the age of 18, has tipped his club team-mate to go far.

He told a press conference, as quoted on getfootballnewsfrance.com: “He is fascinating. He is already very mature and he plays with a lot of personality.

“He is a modern midfielder, who isn’t scared of going forward with the ball. What we have to do is accompany him. I don’t have any advice to give him because he is learning very quickly and on his own.

“Seventeen years old, it’s the same age as my brother (Ethan Mbappe), it’s mad. I’m not old, but it makes me feel a bit old! The guy arrives and does his homework.”

Mbappe was heavily linked with a move away from PSG in the summer but has enjoyed a bright start to the season with 15 goals to his name across all competitions so far.

The 24-year old insists he plays in different roles compared to club and country and demands the best of himself every game.

He continued: “I’m a player who’s very demanding of himself, so when I find that demand from my coaches then I’m very happy.

“I don’t need my manager to tell me I’m the best player in the world every day.

“(France head coach Didier) Deschamps is all about adapting to opponents, which means I’m a different player. That allows me to broaden my range. I can still improve and broaden my range.

“Here, the coach gives me total freedom on the left flank. (PSG boss) Luis Enrique gives me more structure. I’m adapting to all these schemes and with the two great coaches I have, it’s in my interest to listen to them.”