Hungary vs Portugal match report

Kicking off group F, thought to be the most interesting group of the Euro 2020 group stages, was a match between Hungary and Portugal.

On paper this match seemed to be more of a question of what score, rather than what team to win. With both teams coming into this match in good form and Hungary having the home advantage, they were coming into the match looking to shock everyone.

Right from the start, one of the big things to notice about the match was the full capacity stadium. With the match being watched by 61,000 fans in attendance due to the vaccine rollout success in Hungary, as well as the Hungary prime minister being a sports fan, and understanding how important these games are going to be for Hungary. This allowed for a huge helping hand from the hostile home fans like we haven’t seen in a long time due to the coronavirus restrictions.

However, the focus was also on the teams, with star man Cristiano Ronaldo being the main man up top for Portugal, along with some of Portugal’s big attacking names such as Bruno Fernandes, Bernado Silva, and Diogo Jota.

One of the bigger Hungary names, Dominik Szoboszlai, is going to be missing the Euro 2020 due to injury, which is a huge blow for both Hungary and Szoboszlai himself. Hungary are going to have to make sure they can still put up a fight regardless and try to prove doubters wrong.

With this game being the first of the group F games, the eyes were on the reigning European champions to defend their title, and the reigning champions did dominate in the first half, going close early on, as well as throughout the half, with Ronaldo, Diogo Jota, and Bernado Silva all guilty of failing to convert some big opportunities.

Hungary's chances of causing a surprise were growing as the game went on, including when they looked to take the lead late on stunning Portugal with substitute Szabolcs Schon finding the back of the net with 10 minutes remaining, however just moments later the flag was raised for offside.

Portugal did however manage to scrape through the short-lived pressure. Before going ahead just 6 minutes before the end of the game, with Raphael Guerreiro’s heavily deflected strike finding the back of the net, before Ronaldo stepped up to steal the show, starting with an 87th minute penalty. Before scoring his second, and a record breaking goal, and a third for Portugal, in the final minutes of the game.

Portugal rounding off the opening game with a 3-0 win, with things now looking worrying for Hungary, who will need to put incredible performances in against both France and Germany to keep any hopes alive.