Winners and Losers: Arnautovic leads free-scoring Austria as Van Dijk sees red

Winner: Greece

What a week for "Hellas". Thanks to Vangelis Pavlidis' late goal in injury time, Ivan Jovanovic's team achieved a historic first-ever victory against England.

The 2004 European champions have finally put down a statement in football after what feels like an eternity. The last time they beat a football giant was the Netherlands in 2016 (3-1).

But the triumph at Wembley was not all. Three days later, they went one better with a 2-0 win over Ireland to move up to 12 points from four games, and are now on the verge of promotion to League A. 

A point in the return match against England in front of a home crowd could see them clinch promotion. 

Loser: Erling Haaland

First a brace, then nothing. Erling Haaland should have been one of the winners of the week. With his brace against Slovenia, he scored his 33rd and 34th goals in a Norwegian shirt - and thus overtook the country's all-time record goalscorer, Jorgen Juve.

But on Sunday came the disappointment that has been a pattern throughout the striker's national team career. An individual high was followed by a collective low with the 5-1 defeat against Austria in Linz. After four games, they now have seven points to their name - just like the OFB team and Slovenia.

This means that with two games to go before the end of the group stage, the team is in danger of being relegated. Haaland, who remained largely quiet in the game with the supposed main rivals for the group and received a weak 6.2 rating from Flashscore, is of course also measured by successes with the national team.

And after missing out on qualification for the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 European Championship, the next disappointment now looms.

Winner: Marko Arnautovic

Where there are losers, there are of course also winners on the other side. And one of them is Marko Arnautovic. The former Bremen player was initially forced to sit on the bench for 62 minutes against Kazakhstan. He earned his starting spot against Norway with an assist.

Arnautovic immediately repaid Ralf Rangnick's trust in him: with a brace and a Flashscore rating of 8.3, he was the best man on the pitch - and could become his nation's record goalscorer in the near future. The 35-year-old is five goals short of equalling Austria's all-time top scorer, Toni Polster (44 goals).

After a bumpy start to the Nations League, the OFB team is now back on track: "This is the best national team Austria has ever had," enthused Arnautovic after the game.

Loser: Virgil van Dijk

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk will do well to forget the Nations League match against Hungary last Friday as quickly as possible and focus on the tight schedule for his club.

The 33-year-old received his first yellow card for complaining when the score was 0-1 in the second half. Three minutes later, he was sent off with a second yellow card for a foul. The captain will therefore be absent for "Oranje" in their important match against Germany on Monday evening.

After the game, Van Dijk commented on his first sending-off for the national team: "They say that only the captain is allowed to speak to the referee. Yes, I approach him with increased speed. But not in an unpleasant way, not at all. Very respectfully. If even the captain can't say anything... then it's going to be difficult."

Winner: Cristiano Ronaldo

Three goals in three games. After Portugal's bitter exit in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024, many fans and experts saw Cristiano Ronaldo at a crossroads in his career in the national team jersey. However, according to the legend of the sport, retirement was never an option.

At least in the Nations League, the 39-year-old has now impressively shown that he can still perform in Europe. In September against Croatia and on Saturday against Poland, he scored important goals to make it 2-0, and even scored a late winner against Scotland last month. The second leg against the Bravehearts is coming up on Tuesday - and Ronaldo will certainly be doing everything he can to score again.

Loser: Switzerland

Switzerland were regarded as one of the surprises of Euro 2024, delighting fans and pundits alike with their impressive football and maturity, knocking out Italy in the round of 16 and unfortunately losing on penalties to eventual finalists England in the last eight.

The Nations League season of the "Nati", on the other hand, is going anything but well. After three games, they are bottom of League B Group 4 without a point. After defeats in Denmark and at home to Spain in September, the next setback followed on Saturday as Granit Xhaka and Co. delivered what was probably their weakest game of the year against arch-rivals Serbia.

The Swiss will have their next chance on Tuesday at home against Denmark. However, they must also deliver in St. Gallen because if they lose again and Serbia beat Spain at the same time, they will be relegated to League B after just four games.