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Hungary fall to bizarre own goal against Serbia – PHOTOS
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A first-half own goal from Zsolt Nagy handed Serbia their first ever victory against Hungary in a well-contested match in the Puskás Aréna on Thursday evening.
With June’s Nations League Division A fixtures firmly in his mind, Hungary head coach Rossi opted for a back three of Attila Fiola and Endre Botka either side of Ádám Lang, stationed behind a four-man midfield of Zsolt Nagy on the left, András Schäfer and Ádám Nagy in the centre and Loic Nego patrolling the right wing. Dominik Szoboszlai and Roland Sallai were tasked with providing creative impetus behind lone striker Ádám Szalai.
An even and open beginning to the game saw Hungary threaten first, Sallai’s right-footed cross from the left wing headed goalwards by Szalai,
only for Serbia goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic to palm the ball away athletically and an offside flag to render Hungary’s hopes invalid.
Almost immediately, the visitors saw a spectacular goal from Kostic ruled out for push on a defender by Mitrovic and the closely contested nature of the game continued thereafter.
Serbia took the lead in bizarre circumstances in the 35th minute though, a Mitrovic shot from close range being superbly touched onto the crossbar by Gulácsi before the keeper and his teammate Zsolt Nagy contrived to get in each other’s way and bundle the ball over the Hungary goalline.
Zsolt Nagy was clearly keen to make up for his part in that concession and he did excellently down the left to find space for a cross which deflected up for Szalai on the right side of the penalty area in the 40th minute, but his volley was well off-target and Nego could barely deflect the ball any closer to goal on its way through.