Puskas Arena was the place where Hungary received a visit from Portugal for the Euro 2020 opening match. We got player ratings.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal side visited Hungary for the opening match of the Euro 2020’s Group F, the infamous Group of Death. Later today, France plays against Germany to set the tone for a very promising contest. But Puskas Arena was the place where the reigning champions needed a victory in order to start their title defense with a bang. Cristiano Ronaldo made history by simply stepping on the pitch and becoming the footballer with the most participations in this tournament. At five appearances in the Euros, Cristiano’s night was about to get even better this evening.
However, he did suffer quite a bit during the first half against a combative Hungarian side. The Juventus star missed a couple of sitters that left him wanting for that revenge during the second half. But the overall team performance was above what everybody expected from the reigning champions. Having players who weren’t active back in 2016 is a massive leap in level of performance. Fernando Santos was smart for lining up Ronaldo alongside other great players such as Diogo Jota, Bruno Fernandes, and Bernardo Silva.
Cristiano reaches the sky with Portugal.
If that record wasn’t enough, Cristiano Ronaldo’s relentless personality wanted more. If he scored a single goal tonight, he would become the European Championship’s all-time top scorer with 11 goals. But that didn’t come until after a dramatic moment for both sides. Hungary scored an unexpected goal with 10 minutes still left on the clock. However, the referee called an offside and gave Portugal the push they needed in order to move forward. Only minutes after that, Raphael Guerreiro scored a massive goal that gave Ronaldo more room to breathe.
It didn’t take long for another big moment to come as a penalty was awarded for Portugal. This was the moment Ronaldo had been waiting for. He stepped on the spot and scored the goal that made him eternal at the Euros. But Cristiano still wanted more and he led a brilliant combination for the third goal scored by Portugal. Less than 10 minutes were all the reigning champions needed in order to get that great result. With this victory, Portugal starts the tournament with an absolute bang.
Player ratings
Hungary: Gulacsi (8), Fiola (6), Lovrencsics (6), Botka (6), Orban (6), Szalai (6), Kleinheisler (5), Sallai (5), Nagy (5), Schafer (5), A. Szalai (5).
Bench: Nego (5), Siger (5), Schon (5), Varga (5), K. Varga (5).
Portugal: Patricio (6), Guerreiro (7), Dias (7), Pepe (8), Semedo (7), Pereira (7), Carvalho (7), Bruno (7), Bernardo (7), Ronaldo (8), Jota (7).
Bench: Silva (7), Renato (6), A. Silva (6), Moutinho (5).
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