EURO 2020 ROUNDUP
Portugal 3, Hungary 0
Cristiano Ronaldo set the record for most career goals at the European Championship on Tuesday.
The Portugal great scored from the penalty spot in the 87th minute and then added another in injury time to give the defending champions a 3-0 victory over Hungary in Budapest.
Ronaldo’s goals, however, weren’t the only interesting part of the game. On the fifth day of the Euro 2020 tournament, this was the first match played in a full stadium.
The 67,215-capacity Puskas Arena was packed with mostly Hungarian fans, and they made their presence known throughout the match. Hungary is the only one of the 10 countries hosting matches at the tournament to allow full crowds.
That gave Ronaldo plenty of witnesses to history.
“The important thing was to win,” Ronaldo said. “It was a difficult game, against an opponent who defended very well, but we scored three goals, and I am very grateful to the team for helping me to score two goals.”
The Juventus forward was playing in his fifth European Championship, dating back to Euro 2004. He entered this year’s edition even with Michel Platini at nine goals, but that only lasted 87 minutes.
The 36-year-old Ronaldo also became the only player to score at five consecutive European Championships.
Ronaldo scored his first goal after Rafa Silva was fouled by Willi Orban in the area and the referee whistled for a penalty. Ronaldo, who had missed an easy chance near the end of the first half, shot to the right of goal and got his record.
The second came when he combined with Silva in front of goal and then skipped around Hungary keeper Peter Gulacsi before rolling the ball into an empty net with his left foot.
Portugal defender Raphael Guerreiro scored the opening goal three minutes before Ronaldo’s first with a shot that deflected off a defender and wrong-footed Gulacsi.
France 1, Germany 0
Mats Hummels scored an own-goal and France beat Germany 1-0 in Munich.
The experienced defender was attempting
to stop Lucas Hernández’s cross from reaching France forward Kylian Mbappé when he diverted the ball into his own net in the 20th minute.
“I can’t fault him,” Germany coach Joachim Löw said. “It’s just bad luck. The ball in was fast.
“Maybe we should have attacked the throw in quicker. But it was hard for Mats to clear the ball.”
Both teams had chances to score. Ilkay Gündogan wasted Germany’s best opportunity of the first half when he couldn’t direct his shot on target.
France twice put the ball in the net in the second half but both were called back for offside. Mbappé sent a curling shot inside the far post midway through the half and then set up Karim Benzema for another late in the match.
“It was important to start with a win. We were playing Germany, they really riled us. But we wanted this win above all,” said France midfielder Paul Pogba. Germany had never previously lost an opening game in the group stage at the European Championship.
Before the match started, a Greenpeace protestor parachuted into the stadium.