Germany defeated Hungary 2-0 in Group A to become the first country to advance to the round of 16 at Euro 2024 thanks to goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Jamal Musiala.
Germany faced a more formidable challenge from Hungary, whom they had defeated just once in their previous six home matches, following their resounding victory over Scotland on the first night.
After careless defending by his teammates, Manuel Neuer denied Roland Sallai just into the match. However, Germany rapidly gained the upper hand, with Robert Andrich and Kai Havertz coming close before Musiala scored.
Despite the midfielder’s impressive skill set, the match started in a messy manner as Willi Orban lost his footing after tackling Gundogan, which allowed the captain to set up Musiala for a close range finish.
After a close call on an own goal in the first half, Barnabas Varga headed the finest chance of the game for Hungary over Neuer’s crossbar. Sallai thought he had levelled when he converted the rebound from a free-kick.
Seven minutes after Varga’s error, Gundogan made up for it by sweeping a low cross from Maximilian Mittelstadt past Peter Gulacsi to guarantee Germany advanced to the next round with one game remaining.
Germany captain Ilkay Gundogan said: “We are getting better, but as we improve we have to overcome some problems.
“That is what this game showed today, especially in the first half, but that’s the tournament – you have survive such situations. We survived and then hit back.”
Manuel Neuer added: “It was very important. We wanted to affirm our performance against Scotland. We knew from before it wouldn’t be easy for us to play against Hungary.
“You can feel it when you see the euphoria of the people. The atmosphere is good. Germany are always in the favourites’ circle but we need to do our homework.”
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