Defending champions Portugal split in front of 15,000 spectators in Madrid on Friday with tournament favorites Spain 0-0. The Hungarians won 1-0 (1-0) against Cyprus in Budapest. A week before their European Championship opening game against Turkey in Rome, the Italians managed a convincing dress rehearsal. They prevailed 4-0 (2-0) against European Championship participants in the Czech Republic in Bologna.
Hungary and Portugal will meet on June 15 in their first European Championship match in Group F in Budapest. The German team will play against the Portuguese in Munich on June 19, and Hungary will be visiting Munich four days later. Another group opponent is world champion France.
The team around Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was lucky in the generally even game in Madrid shortly before the final whistle when Alvaro Morata hit the crossbar in stoppage time. Both Portugal’s coach Fernando Santos and his Spanish colleague Luiz Enrique used the game for testing and changed their teams vigorously. Hungary forgave a higher victory. Nemanja Nikolics failed with a penalty kick in the 86th minute. So it was the only hit by Andras Schäfer in the 36th minute.
Portugal has its last test against Israel in Lisbon. The Spaniards received Lithuania for their dress rehearsal the day before in Madrid. Hungary will rehearse the emergency against Ireland again on Tuesday in Budapest.
Italy was clearly superior to the Czechs in their victory. Ciro Immobile (23rd), Nicolo Barella (42nd), Lorenzo Insigne (66th) and Domenico Berardi (73rd) overcame Werder Bremen goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka. The success could have been even clearer.
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