Jamal Musiala and Ilkay Gundogan teamed up to send Germany into the knockout stage of Euro 2024 with a game to spare after a 2-0 victory over Group A rivals Hungary.
Musiala opened the scoring with his second goal of the tournament before the break before Gundogan killed off hopes of a Hungarian fightback on a day when Julian Nagelsmann’s men were made to work for the three points in Stuttgart.
Germany keeper Manuel Neuer had to race from his line within seconds of kick-off to deny Roland Sallai after the defence in front of him had been caught flat-footed, but opposite number Peter Gulacsi fielded Kai Havertz’s tame shot as the three-time European champions responded.
Neuer’s goal came under threat once again with six minutes gone when the German defence failed to deal with Dominik Szoboszlai’s follow-up cross after his corner had been repelled, but this time Robert Andrich managed to block Bendeguz Bolla’s attempt.
Gulacsi beat away a shot and Bolla headed away Andrich’s volley from the resulting corner with the hosts starting to impose themselves.
They took the lead with 22 minutes gone when Gundogan barged into and dispossessed Willi Orban before pulling the ball back for Musiala to score with the Hungarians appealing in vain for a foul on the defender.
Marco Rossi’s men might have been level within four minutes but for Neuer’s save from Szoboszlai’s powerfully-struck free-kick, and Jonathan Tah made a vital 29th-minute intervention to deny the Liverpool midfielder amid a concerted response.
Hungary thought they had levelled in first-half stoppage time when Sallai pounced after Neuer had saved Orban’s header, only for an offside flag to halt his celebrations.
Orban sliced an attempted clearance from Antonio Rudiger’s long-range shot over his own bar and Gulacsi made a good save to keep out Toni Kroos’ deflected effort as Hungary came under sustained pressure after the restart.
Barnabas Varga headed wastefully over from Sallai’s inviting 60th-minute cross after climbing above Rudiger, and his side was made to pay seven minutes later when Gundogan swept home Maximilian Mittelstadt’s cross to make it 2-0.
Joshua Kimmich fired across the face of goal and substitute Leroy Sane forced another save from Gulacsi, although it took a late goal-line clearance by Kimmich to deny Orban a consolation goal.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
