UEFA Nations League: Spectacular Hungary strikes put paid to Greece – Highlights

Fabulous first-half goals from Roland Sallai and László Kleinheisler against Greece in Budapest on Tuesday propelled Hungary to their first win under new coach Marco Rossi and ensured their first ever three-point haul in the new UEFA Nations League tournament.

Rossi opted to make three changes to the side which lost by a single goal in Finland at the weekend, Gergő Lovrencsics, Máté Pátkai and Zoltán Stieber making way for Barnabás Bese, Ádám Nagy and Roland Varga for this home match played behind closed doors in the Groupama Aréna.

Hungary started encouragingly, the returning Varga’s fourth-minute effort only ruled out for offside and Tamás Kádár’s long ball into the left channel only just succeeding in skipping away from captain Ádám Szalai and through to a grateful Vassilis Barkas in the Greece goal.

The visitors created their first opening in the 10th minute though and it came through Kostas Fortounis, the Greek playmaker outmuscling László Kleinheisler and cutting inside Tamás Kádár before unleashing a fierce drive which flew just past the post.

Varga would have been clean through on goal in the 10th minute but was again adjudged to be offside but his team were just warming up for what would be one of the finest pieces of interplay by a Hungarian team for quite a while. Kovács started the move by sliding in Varga down the right wing, the Ferencváros winger playing the ball inside for Szalai to flick the ball first-time back to Barnabás Bese, the roving right-back in turn squaring the ball with his head to Sallai who volleyed exquisitely past Barkas down the centre of the goal.

It had been a superb sequence of passes and a marvellous finish for Sallai’s first international strike but Hungary’s lead would only last three minutes, Fortounis’s centrally-positioned free-kick being headed past Gulácsi into the centre of the goal by a suspiciously offside Kostas Manolas after which Greece enjoyed a brief period of dominance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBRxNtPniuo

A couple of minutes later, Anastasios Donis slipped a pass wide to Lazaros Christodoulopoulos who cut inside from the right wing and slammed a bobbling ball a metre wide of the far left upright. The hosts were then indebted to keeper Gulácsi in the 32nd minute when he diverted a sharp, low, 17-metre shot from Dimitris Peikas around his right post, the second of two ensuing corners seeing the RB Leipzig custodian block a bullet downward header from Manolas.

The hosts recovered their composure though and reverted back to the free-flowing, one-touch passing football which charaterised their first goal. Indeed their second- and indeed what turned out to be the winning strike in the 44th minute perhaps even outdid Sallai’s volley for beauty. Another Varga run down the right ended with the tall winger cutting into the box and the ball deflecting to Sallai whose shot was blocked.