Goals from Jamal Musiala and İlkay Gündoğan ensured Germany became the first team to confirm their place in the knockout stage of UEFA EURO 2024.
Captain İlkay Gündoğan leads Germany’s players to thank the fans
Hosts Germany became the first team to reach the knockout stages of UEFA EURO 2024 as goals from Jamal Musiala and İlkay Gündoğan made it two Group A wins out of two at the expense of Hungary in Stuttgart.
Key moments
22′: Musiala strike gives Germany lead
26′: Neuer tips away Szoboszlai free-kick
55′: Kroos denied by Gulácsi
60′: Varga heads over the bar
67′: Cool Gündoğan finish doubles advantage
Match in brief: Germany quality shines through
Jamal Musiala (right) scored his second goal of the tournament to get the ball rolling
Germany found it a more difficult evening than their 5-1 victory over Scotland in Matchday 1, but Julian Nagelsmann’s side had enough about them to get the three points, which ensured they would at least finish as a best third-place team in the group stage.
After an even opening, Musiala became the first player to score more than once at this EURO, adding to his strike against Scotland last week by blasting in from close range to give the hosts the lead.
Manuel Neuer, making his 17th EURO appearance to go level with Gianluigi Buffon’s goalkeeping record, was called into action on 26 minutes as he dived to his right to brilliantly save a curling Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick.
Toni Kroos came close to doubling Germany’s lead ten minutes into the second half but his deflected effort was clawed away by Péter Gulácsi, before Barnabás Varga headed narrowly over for Hungary.
The game was effectively settled when Maximilian Mittelstädt’s low cross was beautifully stroked into the net by Gündoğan to make sure of Germany’s place in the last 16.
Vivo Player of the Match: İlkay Gündoğan (Germany)
An assist for the first goal and scored the second himself. Clever and consistent. It was difficult against the low block, and he had to keep his confidence but got his rewards.
Phil Röber, Germany reporter
The mini spell has been broken, with Germany beating Hungary for the first time in four matches. They were strongest in the 15 minutes before half-time and had the most problems in the first 20 minutes after the break. Those fluctuations in momentum always happen during a tournament, but they did well against disciplined opponents and their mission to remain flawless during the group stage is well on track after they remained positive and aggressive despite going 2-0 up.
Hungary have now lost both their Group A games
Andy Clark, Hungary reporter
Marco Rossi’s side can hold their heads up high after today, but for all their resilience and tenacity, they just lacked that little bit of quality in front of goal. Rossi talked about a point being the minimum they could take from this game if they harbour hopes of progression. Scotland are still to come, and Hungary will be confident of getting a result on Sunday should they play like this, but qualification is now likely to be out of their hands.
Reaction
Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann was clearly delighted with his side’s win
Key stats
- Germany have lost only one of their last 12 EURO group stage matches (W9 D2).
- Nagelsmann’s team kept a clean sheet for the first time in eight EURO matches.
- Germany’s total of seven goals scored in the group stage so far means they have already beaten their highest tally in a EURO group, the six at EURO 2020, with a game to spare.
- Manuel Neuer made his 17th EURO appearance, and will go level with Bastian Schweinsteiger on Germany’s all-time record of 18 should he play against Switzerland.
- Hungary are without a win in eight EURO matches (D4 L4), since a 2-0 victory against Austria in their opening fixture of EURO 2016.
- Rossi’s side have kept only one clean sheet in 13 EURO matches, that 2-0 victory against Austria in 2016.
- None of Hungary’s 13 EURO matches have ended goalless.
- Ádám Nagy made his eighth EURO appearance and now has the most all-time appearances in the tournament for Hungary, beating Ádám Szalai’s record.Line-upsGermany: Neuer; Kimmich, Rüdiger, Tah, Mittelstädt; Andrich (Can 72), Kroos; Musiala (Führich 72), Gündoğan (Undav 84), Wirtz (Sané 58); Havertz (Füllkrug 58)
Hungary: Gulácsi; Fiola, Orbán, Dárdai; Bolla (Ádám 75), Ádám Nagy (Kleinheisler 64), Schäfer, Kerkez (Nagy 75); Sallai (Csoboth 87), Szoboszlai, Varga (Gazdag 87)