![Michel Aebischer - Swiss make easy work of Hungary in Euro 2024](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2024/06/15/TELEMMGLPICT000381890459_17184632442190_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpN1Sqh_ahw-NXPncZn1nH-qqCmZpamAEAenOWxhhQqY.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Swiss make easy work of Hungary in Euro 2024
![Michel Aebischer - Swiss make easy work of Hungary in Euro 2024](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2024/06/15/TELEMMGLPICT000381890459_17184632442190_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpN1Sqh_ahw-NXPncZn1nH-qqCmZpamAEAenOWxhhQqY.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Switzerland held off a Hungarian fightback to win its European Championship opening game 3-1 on Saturday.
Goals from Kwadwo Duah and Michel Aebischer – both surprise picks in the starting line-up – left Switzerland in control at half-time but Barnabas Varga’s header put Hungary back in contention.
Breel Embolo made sure of the win when he scored on the counter-attack in stoppage time with a lob over the goalkeeper.
Earlier, Duah opened the scoring in just his second game for Switzerland, shooting low past goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi off a pass from Aebischer.
Aebischer made it 2-0 just before half-time, sidestepping away from Attila Fiola to find space on the edge of the box to hit a curling low shot past Gulacsi.
Varga’s diving header in the 66th off Dominik Szoboszlai’s cross brought celebrations for Hungary as some of its black T-shirt-wearing hardcore fans lit flares. Hungary kept Switzerland under pressure after that but couldn’t find a second goal.
Switzerland is second in Group A after host nation Germany beat Scotland 5-1 on Friday in the tournament opener. Hungary had its first loss in a competitive game since September 2022.
Hungary vs Switzerland: As it happened . . .
GOAL! 94 minutes: Hungary 1 Switzerland 3 (Embolo 94’)
![Embolo arms wide](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2024/06/15/TELEMMGLPICT000381895363_17184641140620_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqOj5_Rmr3MNcQcsRkzAbTbSpPmN5eNR6pQVArxqnJGCI.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Game over, and Embolo is back among the goals.
Sommer launches a ball from his hands well into the final third, and Hungary make a mess of it.
A miscued headed clearance puts the ball on a plate for Embolo, whose delightful dink sends the ball over Gulácsi into the net.
73 minutes: Hungary 1 Switzerland 2
Xhaka plays a lovely ball down the left channel, which Ndoye runs onto, before cutting in and firing a shot that deflects over the bar for a corner.
Then, from the resulting corner, Fabian Schar heads narrowly wide.
Moments later, Swiss keeper Yann Sommer is needed to clutch a low cross that looked destined to find an onrushing Varga.
GOAL! - 66 minutes: Hungary 1 Switzerland 2
![Varga header](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2024/06/15/TELEMMGLPICT000381894092_17184639727590_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf_4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=350)
And there is life in this match!
A sumptuous cross from the left hand side by Szoboszlai floats to the back post, where Varga is on hand to atone for his earlier miss, stooping low to head past Sommer to grab a goal back for Hungary.
57 minutes: Hungary 0 Switzerland 2
Hungary now have a corner after Szoboszlai’s free kick is headed away.
But as quickly as they earn the corner, they duly concede possession cheaply for a Switzerland throw-in.
Szoboszlai is cutting a visibly frustrated figure, much like the manner of a displeased Bruno Fernandes.
51 minutes: Hungary 0 Switzerland 2
Roman Sallai makes a darting run behind the Swizerland defence, is found with a long searching ball, tees up Szoboszlai at the edge of the box... But the Hungary captain drags his shot well wide of the goal, before his blushes are spared at the sight of the offside flag.
Granit Xhaka’s first half in numbers.
The 31-year-old Switzerland captain was imperious in the first half.
- He had the most touches of any player on the pitch. (55)
- He completed the most passes of any other player. (48)
- And he made the most passes into the final third. (12)
If Xhaka continues this tremendous display after the break, things could get real ugly for Hungary. Just ask Scotland.
GOAL! Hungary 0 Switzerland 2! Aebischer (45’)
![Aebischer celebration](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2024/06/15/TELEMMGLPICT000381888968_17184637923960_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq4k9pB6mVv575RZMUuuHUNlHmPOpeFd0SyQx9dn7kM_w.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Beautiful goal from Switzerland to double their lead.
Aebischer, who supplied Duah for Switzerland’s first, curls in a wonderful goal from about 25 yards past the despairing dive of Gulácsi.
20 minutes: Hungary 0 Switzerland 1
Hungary are rocking here, and Switzerland should be 2-0 up.
Kerkez’s woeful backpass is pounced upon by Switzerland’s Vargas, who goes one on one with Gulácsi, but the forward’s effort is fired into the shoulder of the Hungary number one, and bounces away for a Swiss corner.
GOAL! Hungary 0 Switzerland 1 - Duah (13’)
The goal is given!
1-0 to Switzerland, and it is a brilliantly worked goal.
Duah, who has looked bright in this match, bursts in behind the Hungary back line with a well-timed run, after a delightful through ball by Aebischer into his path, before the 27 year old coolly slots the ball past Gulácsi to give his team the lead.
![Duah celebrating](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2024/06/15/TELEMMGLPICT000381878897_17184578874900_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=350)
The managers in rather different moods.
![Rossi with hat](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2024/06/15/TELEMMGLPICT000381797628_17184549420580_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf_4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=350)
![Yakin clapping](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2024/06/15/TELEMMGLPICT000381872923_17184550455130_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqA7N2CxnJWnYI3tCbVBgu9T0aesusvN1TE7a0ddd_esI.jpeg?imwidth=350)
![Yakin waving](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2024/06/15/TELEMMGLPICT000381872737_17184550750890_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Some stats for whet your appetite...
- The only previous major tournament meeting between Hungary and Switzerland was in the 1938 World Cup quarter-finals. Hungary won 2-0.
- Adam Nagy, Laszlo Kleinheisler and Attila Fiola can become the first players to play for Hungary in three European Championships.
- The only two teams to reach the knockout phase in each of the past five major tournaments (World Cup/Euros) are Switzerland and France.
- Xherdan Shaqiri (9) is Switzerland’s leading major tournament (World Cup/Euros) goalscorer. Of players at Euro 2024, seven have reached double figures in World Cup/Euros goals: Cristiano Ronaldo (22), Harry Kane (12), Kylian Mbappe (12), Antoine Griezmann (11), Romelu Lukaku (11), Thomas Müller (10) and Ivan Perisic (10).
Midfield generals on both sides.
Any hopes either country harbour of gaining a win this afternoon will surely rest on the shoulders of their respective captains.
Hungary boast Dominik Szoboszlai in midfield, with the 23-year-old recovering from an injury scare to start this afternoon. He becomes the youngest ever captain of a team in European Championship history.
Meanwhile, Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka, enters this tournament on the back of a sensational season for Bayer Leverkusen, capturing the German league and cup double, as part of an unbeaten domestic season.
![Szobo press conference](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2024/06/15/TELEMMGLPICT000381373356_17184536777750_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqpVlberWd9EgFPZtcLiMQf0Rf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpeg?imwidth=350)
![Xhaka pre match](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/football/2024/06/15/TELEMMGLPICT000381868995_17184535650640_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqLf6XVudQ0d-fF3pHUPFzEAeAINc0hTrVyV1td0u1hTM.jpeg?imwidth=350)
Here are the line-ups.
Hungary XI:
Gulácsi; Lang, Orbán, Szalai; Fiola, Nagy, Schäfer, Kerkez; Sallai, Szoboszlai (c), Varga.
Subs: Dibusz, Szappanos, Balogh, Nego, Adam, Bolla, Kleinheisler, Gazdag, Styles, Nagy, Botka, Csoboth, Dardai, Horvath, Kata.
Switzerland XI:
Sommer; Schär, Akanji, Rodríguez; Widmer, Freuler, Xhaka (c), Ndoye; Duah, Aebischer, Vargas.
Subs: Mvogo, Kobel, Stergiou, Elvedi, Embolo, Okafor, Steffen, Zesiger, Sierro, Shaqiri, Jashari, Amdouni, Rieder.
Fancy a flutter?
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Round Two of Euro 2024 is almost ready...
Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of the second match of Euro 2024, as Hungary take on Switzerland in Cologne.
Yesterday evening saw the 17th edition of this tournament commence with host nation Germany’s impressive 5-1 thrashing of Scotland.
Now it is the turn of Group A’s two other teams, Hungary and Switzerland to get their campaigns underway, and both teams enter this tournament on opposite ends of the spectrum form-wise.
Hungary, ranked 26th in the world, qualified for Euro 2024 in excellent fashion, topping their group ahead of Serbia without losing a single game, and were unbeaten throughout the calendar year of 2023.
This will be their third successive European Championship campaign, after failing to qualify for any major tournaments between 1986 and 2016.
And Hungary have proved more than capable of landing heavy blows against opponents in their recent showings, reaching the last 16 at Euro 2016, and taking a point from both France and Germany at Euro 2020, albeit finishing bottom of the ‘Group of Death’.
And with Scotland suffering a heavy defeat yesterday, Hungary, captained by fit-again Liverpool midfielder Dominic Szoboszlai may have received extra motivation to gain a victory today that could prove crucial to advancing to the knockout stages once again.
Meanwhile, Switzerland have not entered this tournament in the best of spirits, having won only one of their final seven qualifying matches, which earned them second place in their group, two points ahead of Israel.
This treacherous run of form increased the scrutiny on manager Murat Yakin, but Swiss FA president Dominique Blanc’s vote of confidence ensured Switzerland were not to experience any sudden changes in their dugout before proceedings commenced in Germany this summer.
Nevertheless, Switzerland’s impressive record of reaching the knockout stages of the past five major international tournaments has only been matched by France. Ironically, it was the then world champions who succumbed to the Swiss at the last Euros, as Switzerland pulled off an almighty shock, coming back from 3-1 down in normal time to progress to the quarter finals on penalties in a thrilling last-16 tie.
And a victory this afternoon against Hungary will go a long way to securing passage to the knockout stages once again.
Team news to follow shortly.