Day five saw the opening round of group action at Euro 2020 conclude as Group F took centre stage with two blockbuster clashes.
Portugal entered the tournament as reigning champions chasing a win over Hungary, who had held them to a 3-3 draw in the Group Stage at Euro 2016 as both teams found themselves in the group of death, alongside France and Germany as the last two World Cup winners collided in Munich.
Now here is a roundup of the best action of both matches in Budapest and Munich.
Hungary 0-3 Portugal
Portugal enjoyed a dominant first half display in which Diogo Jota and Bernardo Silva wasted two chances, as Hungary had to wait until the 35th minute for their first opportunity, with Andras Schafer forcing a foul from Bernardo Silva.
Adam Szalai managed to get a header on the resulting free-kick but Rui Patricio saved his effort as Jota, Raphael Guerreiro and Cristiano Ronaldo all missed late chances, as the match remained goalless at half time.
Upon the restart, Portugal went close with Pepe’s header just three minutes in finding Peter Gulacsi’s arms, just moments before Hungary began to turn the screws as Adam Szalai and Roland Sallai wasted shots.
Bruno Fernandes put a 68th minute curler wide of the bottom left corner just five minutes before Attila Szalai saw his header blocked before his brother – Adam bent a shot over the bar moments later.
Ronaldo saw a 76th minute penalty appeal for handball by Attila Fiola waved away by referee, Cuneyt Cakir, after he knocked down a cross which accidentally hit Fiola’s right arm.
Hungary soon afterwards looked to had taken the lead when Loic Nego unleashed Szabolcs Schon up the right to cut in and score, only to be adjudged offside due to Schon starting his run just too early.
Portugal consequently punished that error four minutes later as Rafa Silva played a pass across to Guerreiro who fired in via a deflection from Willie Orban to put the reigning champions ahead.
Two minutes later, Orban was once again at fault as he fouled Rafa Silva with Ronaldo stepping up to fire the penalty kick into the bottom right corner to double Portugal’s lead and become the outright all-time record goalscorer in UEFA Euros.
Portugal however managed to add a third goal in the second minute of stoppage time as Ronaldo played a series of moves with Rafa Silva, ultimately side-stepping Gulacsi to tap in to wrap up victory.
France 1-0 Germany
Germany made a bright start which earned a free kick after just two minutes but Mats Hummels could only head over the bar.
Kai Havertz shortly afterwards bundled a pass behind to concede a goal kick as France struggled to get going until the 15th minute, as N’Golo Kante played a double one-two move with Benjamin Pavard allowing the latter to deliver a cross which Matthias Ginter cleared for a corner.
Paul Pogba was only able to head the set piece delivery over the bar with Kylian Mbappe just one minute later breaking up the left and curled in a low shot, which forced Manuel Neuer to punch clear and behind goal.
France eventually found a breakthrough in the 20th minute as Pogba played a spinning pass across to the overlapping Lucas Hernandez, who delivered a cross from the left towards Mbappe only for Hummels to flick into his own net.
Just two minutes later, Thomas Muller headed a potential equaliser from Robin Gosens’ cross wide before Toni Kroos wasted two free-kicks following fouls on Ilkay Gundogan and Muller.
Gundogan however wasted the best chance in the last ten minutes of the first half after Serge Gnabry flicked Gosens’ cross behind for the Manchester City midfielder, who could only mishit his shot to send the ball flying wide of the right corner.
France however went on to make the better start to the second half with Adrien Rabiot lashing a shot just seven minutes in onto the left post from a counter-attacking move by Mbappe.
Gnabry however went up the other end in the 54th minute and volleyed Gosens’ cross over the bar, before Gosens mishit Joshua Kimmich’s cross four minutes later and unintentionally blocked Kroos’ rebound shot which otherwise would of found the net to restore parity.
Soon afterwards, France settled into a deep playing counter-attack strategy which almost reaped reward in the 66th minute when Pogba unleashed Mbappe up the left to cut in and curl across into the bottom right corner but the goal was ruled offside due to Antoine Griezmann’s position in the build-up.
Mbappe then saw a penalty appeal in the 78th minute denied after he was fouled by Hummels on the edge of the box, before teeing up Karim Benzema seven minutes later on the counter-attack only for the goal to be ruled offside due to Mbappe’s position.
France nevertheless clung on for a narrow win which put them second in Group F behind Portugal and ahead of Germany and Hungary.
Didier Deschamps’ Les Bleus will now play Hungary on Saturday 19 June (2pm UK Time) whilst Portugal meet Germany in the teatime kick-off that day (5pm UK Time), where wins for today’s winners would wrap up automatic qualification and leave Germany to battle Hungary for third in their final group match.
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