CRISTIANO RONALDO and co. are back in another Euros campaign and they’ll be hoping to retain the trophy they won five years ago in Paris.
Tonight, they take on Hungary in their first game of the tournament in Budapest. And Ronaldo will be looking to chase down the international goal record in the process.
- Start time: 5pm GMT
- TV/Live stream: ITV 1/ITV Hub
- Hungary XI: Gulcasi, Szalai, Fiola, Orban, Nagy, Szalai A., Schaefer, Lovrencsics, Kleinheisler, Sallai, Botka
- Portugal XI: Patricio, Semedo, Pepe, Dias, Guerreiro, Carvahlo, Danilo, Bruno Fernandes, B Silva, Ronaldo, Jota
Follow ALL the action with our live blog below…
HUNGARY 0-0 PORTUGAL
5. Jota stings the palms of Gulacsi from just outside the box. Ronaldo is furious as he was free for the pass.
.NINTCHDBPICT000659445526Credit: AFP HUNGARY 0-0 PORTUGAL
4. There’s already been a couple of robust challenges by Hungary. They’re well up for this.
HUNGARY 0-0 PORTUGAL
3. Ronaldo tries a cheeky flick on the touchline that doesn’t come off, much to the delight of the Hungary fans.
HUNGARY 0-0 PORTUGAL
1. We’re off and under way.
PEEEEEEEEEREEEEEEEEP!
HERE WE GO!HERE COME THE TEAMS!
Hungary are roared out by a capacity crowd.
I do like Portugal’s national anthem. It’s a real toe-tapper.
.Credit: Reuters ROSSI READY TO RUMBLE
Hungary may be in the so-called group of death, but coach Marco Rossi is confident his men can pull off a shock.
He said: “We’ll do everything to push ourselves to the limit. We know who we’re up against.
“We’ll keep our feet on the ground, but, of course, we want to achieve our dreams. Dreaming is free, so we dream.
“Our dream remains between us, of course. We talk about it and want to live that dream. Let’s hope it continues during the Euros.”
Hungary play host in the Puskas Arena in front of a rare 61,000 capacity crowd, with life in Budapest back to normal for residents carrying immunity cards.
That’s after Viktor Orban, Hungary’s Prime Minister, defied the European Union to make use of vaccines available from Russia and China and accelerated the release of national lockdown regulations.
Hungary reached the last 16 of Euro 2016. In that tournament they played Portugal in the group phase in a 3-3 draw.
Portugal have never lost against Hungary (won nine, drew four).
.Credit: Getty FERREIRA: TIME TO SHINE
Former Portugal international Paulo Ferreira has stressed the importance of Fernando Santos’ side getting off to a winning start today.
Ex-Chelsea defender Ferreira, who won 62 caps for his country between 2002 and 2010 told 101 Great Goals: “It’s really important to start the competition well.
“We had that in Euros in2004 when we lost the first game against Greece and then we obviously had to push hard to win the next two games and get to the knock-out stage.
“This year it’s the same, we need to play well against Hungary and hope that France or Germany loses one of their games. It will be very important for us to win the first game so we can carry that confidence into the second game.
“It’s a tough group. Unfortunately, one of the big teams will lose out and I hope it won’t be Portugal.
“It’s a really, really tough group but we also can’t forget about Hungary because people just think about Portugal, France and Germany but you never know!
“You can be surprised because the Hungarian team have nothing to lose. They have the chance of playing against top players and they want to show up as they know all eyes are on the Euros.
“You need to respect Hungary as well as you never know what they can produce.”
.Credit: EPA ALL EYES ON CR7
All eyes will be on Cristiano Ronaldo today.
A five-time Ballon d’Or winner, in his 19th year as a professional footballer, he netted 36 times for Juventus last season.
Ronaldo also scored 11 goals in Euro 2020 qualifying.
He’s looking to close in on the all-time top scoring record in men’s international football this month. He needs just six to surpass Iran’s Ali Daei, who sits on 109.
.Credit: AP
PORTUGAL SUBS:
12 Lopes, 22 R Silva, 6 Fonte, 8 Moutinho, 9 A Silva, 15 R Silva, 16 Sanches, 18 Neves, 19 Goncalves, 23 Felix, 24 Oliveira, 25 Mendes
HUNGARY SUBS:
12 Dibusz, 22 Bogdan, 2 Lang, 3 Kecskes, 7 Nego, 10 Cseri, 17 R Varga, 18 Siger, 19 K Varga, 23 Nikolic, 24 Schon, 26 Bolla
PORTUGAL XI:
1 Patricio; 2 Semedo, 4 Dias, 3 Pepe, 5 Guerreiro; 13 Danilo, 14 Carvalho, 11 Fernandes; 10 B Silva, 21 Jota, 7 Ronaldo ©
HUNGARY XI:
1 Gulacsi; 21 Bokta, 6 Orban, 4 At. Szalai; 14 Lovrencsics, 15 Kleinheisler, 8 Nagy, 13 Schafer, 5 Fiola; 9 Szalai ©, 20 Sallai
THE TEAMSHEETS ARE IN!
TEAM NEWS
Portugal’s preparations were disrupted on Sunday when Manchester City defender Joao Cancelo tested positive for Covid-19 and was replaced in the squad by Manchester United’s Diogo Dalot.
There are nine Premier League players in the Portugal squad, including Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes, Liverpool forward Diogo Jota, Manchester City pair Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva and Wolves quartet Rui Patricio, Nelson Semedo, Joao Moutinho and Ruben Neves.
The Hungary squad includes Bristol City midfielder Adam Nagy, while goalkeepers Peter Gulacsi and Adam Bogdan both had spells at Liverpool.
They saw Dominik Szoboszlai ruled out of the tournament, while wing-back Szilveszter Hangya also missed out through injury.
Hopes are likely to rest on the shoulders of striker and captain Adam Szalai, along with fellow Bundesliga forward Roland Sallai.
.Credit: Reuters
UP FOR IT
It’s safe to say Hungary fans are looking forward to today’s game…
REPEAT OFFENDERS
Fernando Santos, who led Portugal to European Championship glory five years ago, believes his side can hold onto the trophy, as Spain did in 2012.
He said: “Portugal arrive to this competition the same way we did in 2016, with the same confidence and belief to achieve something important like in 2016, where we managed to do it, and now we are with the same confidence.
“Like in the past, we have what it takes to win again.
“Obviously, as contenders to win, if we don’t get through the group phase it will be a failure. But I don’t believe that will happen to Portugal.
“I think people have the right and are correct to demand that we do everything in our power to win, using our quality, organisation, commitment, and I believe we are prepared for that.
“Portugal have the ability to go toe-to-toe with any team that also has ambitions to win the tournament.”
SCENES
And these were some of the scenes last night in Budapest as Portugal fans took to the streets to chant ahead of this afternoon’s game…
FAN-DEMONIUM
Just look at the scenes in Budapest!
Credit: Reuters Credit: Reuters Credit: EPA Credit: EPA GOOD AFTERNOON!
Hello and welcome to SunSport’s live coverage of Hungary vs Portugal at Euro 2020!
Cristiano Ronaldo is back and looking to defend the Euros crown he and his teammates stole from under France’s noses five years ago in Paris.
They kick off this summer’s huge tournament with a clash against Hungary this evening in Budapest, where there will be a FULL capacity crowd to feast on all the action.
Fans are already gathering in their thousands outside the ground, with the players set to take to the pitch at 5pm UK time.
So sit back, put your feet up and follow along with our extensive, live coverage of the game.
Enjoy!
Credit: EPA
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
