In a group which features, France Germany and Portugal, Hungary were already facing an uphill task even before the tournament started.
The only solace for the Hungary, who are seen as the weakest team in the group, will be the home advantage.
But that will count for little as the side comes face-to-face with the European Championship and Cristiano Ronaldo. While all eyes will be on massive clash between France and Germany later tonight, Hungary will have to deal with a threat of Ronaldo.
Ronaldo is chasing records and history and needs six more goals to become the all-time leading scorer for a men's national team.
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Ronaldo is chasing the record of Iranian striker Ali Daei who has 109 goals for his national team. He will surely achieve the target if Portugal manage to go deep in the tournament.
Apart from Ronaldo, Portugal have enough fire power to light up the Puskas Arena. Midfielder Bruno Fernandes, winger Bernardo Silva and forward Diogo Jota are equally capable of scoring.
Fernandes is coming off a superb season with Manchester United wherein he scored 28 goals overall helping United reach the Europa League final.
Jota was in good touch for Liverpool.
While hungary and its coach Marco Rossi won't have trouble when it comes to crowd rooting for their win but its hard to see Hungray surprise Portugal.
Before the match Rossi, Hungary coach, said, “Motivation isn’t a problem by now. If someone isn’t motivated by all this, they're in the wrong sport.”
Hungary will be without Dominik Szoboszlai, the 20-year-old midfielder being seen as the biggest talent to emerge in Hungarian soccer since forward Krisztian Nemeth in 2010.
He withdrew from Euro 2020 two weeks ago because of a persistent adductor injury. (with inputs from AP)
Match And Telecast Details
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Match: UEFA European Championship 2021, Group F match between Hungary and Portugal
Date: June 16 (Wednesday), 2021
Time: 9:30 PM IST
Venue: Puskas Arena, Budapest in Hungary
TV Channels: Sony Sports Network
Live Streaming: SonyLIV, Jio TV
Head-to-head: Both sides have met thrice with Portugal winning 2 and one draw.
Likely XI
Hungary: Predicted line-up: Gulacsi; Fiola, Orban, Attila Szalai; Lovrencsics, Kleinheisler, Adam Nagy, Schafer, Holender; Roland Sallai, Adam Szalai
Portugal: Rui Patricio; Nelson Semedo, Ruben Dias, Pepe, Guerreiro; Ruben Neves, William, Bruno Fernandes; Bernardo Silva, Ronaldo, Diogo Jota
