The group stages at EURO 2020 came to a conclusion on Wednesday, with two matches in Group F to finish things off. Portugal faced France in Budapest, while Hungary took on Germany in Munich, with all four teams capable of reaching the knockout rounds. It was a night of high drama, with Germany heading out of EURO 2020 at one point, and Hungary were desperately unlucky to not qualify for the knockout rounds, having played quite well across all three matches against superior opposition. Hungary needed a win to have any chance of qualifying, and so they started in energetic fashion, and took a shock lead in the 11th minute when Roland Sallai’s cross from a deep position on the right found Adam Szalai in between two German defenders, and the Hungary captain flung himself to bury a brilliant header into the net and spark wild celebrations among the few Hungary supporters who had made it to Munich, while there were much larger cheers in Budapest during the Portugal-France game. Germany struggled to create opportunities in the first half, other than a Mats Hummels header from a corner which hit the bar, and were in danger of crashing out of the tournament at half-time. Sallai hit the outside of the post from a free-kick early in the second half, but Germany clawed their way back with Kai Havertz’s goal, as he was able to head into an empty net following Hummels’ looping header with Peter Gulacsi left stranded. However, Hungary hit back immediately from kick-off – Szalai dinked a smart ball through for Andras Schafer who managed to poke the ball into the net past an onrushing Manuel Neuer to restore Hungary’s lead and once again condemn Germany. Hungary defended resolutely for almost the entirety of the match, but were unable to hold onto their lead as Leon Goretzka crashed a shot into the net to spare Germany’s blushes and knock out a devastated Hungary side. Germany will now face England at Wembley in the round of 16, having finished second in Group F. Check out our EURO 2020 analytics report from this match for the key statistics, data and visualisations.
