MURCIA: Ukraine came from behind to beat Belgium 3-1 in the first leg of their Nations League playoff, moving into a strong position to earn promotion to the competition’s top tier.

Romelu Lukaku put visiting Belgium in front after 40 minutes, nodding home from a Kevin De Bruyne free kick in coach Rudi Garcia’s first game in charge.

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Ukraine’s Oleksiy Hutsulyak capitalised on a mistake by the Belgium defence to level in the 66th minute, before Vladyslav Vanat gave them the lead from close range and Ilya Zabarnyi made it 3-1 with an acrobatic first touch.

Austria and Serbia shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw and Scotland earned a 1-0 victory in Greece in the other League A/B playoff ties after Turkey beat Hungary 3-1 in the early kick-off.

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