Euro 2020 returned to action on Tuesday with a set of the Group F fixtures, with Portugal and France starting their tournament campaigns on the front foot.
Dubbed by many as a ‘Group of Death,’ the section consisting of the likes of Portugal, Germany, France, and Hungary lived up to expectations.
Let’s take a look at what happened at Euros today.
Hungary 0-3 Portugal
Hungary and Portugal locked horns at the Puskas Arena in their Group F opener on Tuesday, with the reigning European champions showing no mercy against the Magyars.
Portugal’s defending Euro campaign got off to a flier despite a tumultuous first half that saw Fernando Santos’ men waste a few clear-cut chances.
The Hungarians opted for a defensive set-up against the all-star Portuguese side and managed to fend off Cristiano Ronaldo and co in the opening 45 minutes.
Although Marco Rossi’s team held their ground for a large portion of the second half, the Selecao’s unrelenting attacks eventually paid off.
Second-half substitute Rafa Silva delivered the ball to Borussia Dortmund’s Raphael Guerreiro, whose first-time effort took a slight deflection to end up in the bottom right corner.
Portugal broke the deadlock in the 84th minute but refused to take their foot off the gas as Ronaldo doubled his team’s lead from the spot in the 87th minute.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner, who spurned a golden opportunity on the stroke of half-time, made no mistake in the stoppage time.
After a swift exchange of passes between him and Rafa Silva, the 36-year-old scored his second of the game to give Portugal an overwhelming 3-0 victory.
Ronaldo is now the European Championship all-time highest scorer with 11 goals to his name and is only four short of equalling Ali Daei’s record for the number of international strikes.
France 1-0 Germany
Arguably the most highly expected fixture of Euro 2020 Matchday 1 took place at the Allianz Arena as France traded tackles with Germany in a mouth-watering clash.
Widely considered the top candidates to land the title, Les Bleus started the tournament with an all-important 1-0 win over arch-rivals on their soil.
Though the chances in Munich were at a premium, Didier Deschamps’ men came out victorious thanks to Mats Hummels’ own goal in the 20th minute.
The veteran defender made a poor clearance trying to prevent Kylian Mbappe from tapping the ball into the net by hammering home a lackadaisical own goal.
Germany tried to fight their way back into the match but barely managed to put Hugo Lloris to the test in the first half.
Except for a couple of long-range attempts, the Germans failed to trouble Deschamps’ stubborn backline.
Meanwhile, Juventus’ Adrien Rabiot nearly put the game to bed seven minutes into the second half, but his effort from point-blank range rattled off the right post.
Serge Gnabry, who has scored countless goals at the Allianz Arena with Bayern Munich, squandered a clear-cut opportunity to put things back to square one.
The 25-year-old winger latched onto Robin Gosens’ pinpoint delivery but skied the ball well over the crossbar.
In the 67th minute, Mbappe was denied one of the finest goals you’ll ever see. The quicksilver forward made a brilliant solo action to slot the ball past Manuel Neuer but was caught offside in the build-up.