10-MAN AUSTRIA STUNNED BY ARCH RIVALS

AUSTRIA, who were undefeated in their 10 qualifying games, suffered a surprise defeat by their long-standing rivals Hungary. The Hungarians, who only reached the finals through the play-offs, took the lead with a rare goal by forward Adam Szalai in the 62nd minute — his first at international level since October 2014. Austria thought they had equalised soon after but Martin Hinteregger’s effort was disallowed for a foul by Aleksandar Dragovic, who was sent off after being given a second yellow card. Substitute Zoltan Stieber secured victory three minutes from the end in Group F with a breakaway goal as Austria pushed forward for an equaliser. ‘I don’t want to talk about myself. The whole team won,’ Szalai said. ‘Everyone worked together. I think we managed to do everything our manager told us in terms of advice and strategy.’ Austria were the better side in the first half with Bayern Munich’s David Alaba, the country’s player of the year in 2015 for the fifth time in succession, and Stoke’s Marko Arnautovic looking as though they could be the game’s dominant figures. In the first minute Alaba burst forward and hit a fierce drive against the Hungary post from outside the area. Former Crystal Palace goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly, who at 40 years and 70 days beat Lothar Matthaus’s record to become the oldest player at a Euros, was beaten on that occasion but made an excellent save from Zlatko Junuzovic later in the half. The game turned on two incidents within as many minutes just after the hour. Szalai took a return pass from Laszlo Kleinheisler and slid the ball past goalkeeper Robert Almer. Austria retaliated and Hinteregger’s shot beat Kiraly but the referee ruled it out for a late tackle by Dragovic, who had been yellow-carded in the first half. Two substitutes combined late on to seal the win. Tamas Priskin, the former Watford and Ipswich Town striker who had replaced Szalai, sent Stieber racing through and he expertly chipped Almer in front of thousands of delighted Hungarians. Having qualified for the first time since reaching the 1972 semi-finals, their team are now well placed to reach the last 16. Alaba said: ‘I think we were the better team, even though that might be shocking. Now we just have to forget this and push on.’