BUDAPEST. Quality alone will not win the match, said Fernando Santos, Portugal’s coach, before the Hungarians. However, having a quality player Cristiano Ronald will greatly increase his chances of winning.
The Hungarians held on bravely for eighty minutes against the reigning European champion, but in the end the Portuguese national team clearly won 3: 0.
We support without drapes
The first major football championship after the outbreak of the covid 19 disease has a specific atmosphere. Due to strict measures, sites can only be filled to a quarter, a third, or at best half of their capacity.
–
The only exception is the Puskas Arena in Budapest, which can accommodate almost seventy thousand fans. This means that there will be record visits to this year’s tournament in the Hungarian capital.
Veils in the viewpoint are not obligatory, only recommended, because only fans who have a vaccination certificate have entry to the stadium. Foreign football fans must have a negative PCR test not older than 72 hours.
About four thousand fans came from Portugal, but they were heard only at the end of the match.
–
Fans smuggled pyrotechnics into the stadium. (Source: SITA / AP)
–
They also came from Slovakia
A group of four Swedes walked around the Puskás Arena a bit helplessly. They probably bought their tickets when it seemed that after removing Dublin and Bilbao from the list of organizers, the next matches could go to Budapest.
–
Fans from Slovakia also found their way to the match. The Romani-Roma citizen, who has lived in Budapest for a long time, predicted before the match: “I would like to say that the Hungarians will win, but that is probably not realistic. I’ll be happy if it’s not a debacle. “
The view was dominated by “cherry red” jerseys of the Hungarian national team, but here and there yellow-blue T-shirts DAC Dunajská Streda also appeared.
–
Premature eruption of joy
In times of empty stadiums, organizers often let fan chants out of the amplifiers to make the atmosphere less gloomy. The biggest difference between the live crowd and the recordings, however, is that the live crowd responds to current events on the field.
The Hungarian goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi sends off the ball – a huge applause.
Cristiano Ronaldo does not have a long pass – a whistle and a little laughter.
Ádám Szalai attempts to defeat the goalkeeper from a distance – cries of recognition and unbelieving questions: what did you think Patrik Schick was?
–
Szabolcs Schön took the lead after taking the ball from an angle to the net.
According to the applicable rules, the assistant referee did not signal an offside during the action, but Arbiter Cüneyt Cakir immediately raised his hand and made it clear that the goal was not valid. Late. One fan has already run to the field.
Similar intruders usually want to get close to their idols, touch them. Cristiano Ronaldo would know how to talk about this. However, this fan ignored him. He began to hug Ádám Szalai, the forward of the Hungarian national team. He pushed him away angrily.
–
Excellent Gulácsi
The Hungarian national team resisted the Portuguese defenders for 83 minutes. Excellent performance of Lipska Péter Gulácsi.
The Hungarians played organized and compact. In the first half, they practically did not endanger the opponent’s goal, Szalai’s only header went to the middle of the goal. But even the Portuguese did not get into chances, the locals were unpleasant on the defensive.
Ronaldo burned the biggest opportunity before the break when he was aiming uncovered. At that time, it was still the case that the five-time holder of the Golden Ball never scored in Budapest.
–
Captain of the Hungarian national team Ádám Szalai.
–
Key rotation
In the second half, the home team were a bit more active in the forward direction. The title defender began to show nervousness.
“When I felt we were no longer dominating, I sent Rafu to the field,” said Portuguese coach Fernando Santos after the meeting.
–
It was a key moment: Benfica midfielder Rafa Silva passed Raphel Guerreira to the goal six minutes before the end and then won the eleven.
Cristiano Ronaldo converted it uncompromisingly and set it at the final 3: 0 at the set time after the demonstration event.
–
Thus, with a total of eleven goals, he became the best scorer in the history of the European Championships. Before the tournament, he shared the first place with the legendary French striker Michel Platini, who has nine accurate hits.
However, Platini scored his goals in a single championship, while for Ronald it is already the fifth European Championship. The match with the Hungarians was his 22nd on this forum.
–
“I take the defeat on myself”
The disappointment of the locals was huge. After the goals of Portugal, there was silence in the stadium. Only a small island of Portuguese fans jumped and sang.
However, Hungarian supporters quickly recovered. After the final whistle, they thanked their pets for the fighting performance and sang the anthem with them.
“If we could play the way they like the fans, we would probably win more matches,” said Marco Rossi, the coach of the Hungarian national team, in tribute to the fans.
“I take the defeat on myself. The rotations didn’t work out for me. It seemed to me that András Schäfer, László Kleinheisler or Roland Sallai were a little tired, but I probably had to wait a bit with the changes, “added the Italian coach.
More about EURO 2020/2021
—