Tournament favorites France averted a nasty mistake at the European Football Championship thanks to their extraordinary attack force and are on course for the knockout round before the group finals.
The world champion averted a threatened defeat this Saturday in Budapest and won a 1-1 (0-1) against hosts Hungary for another outstanding Peter Gulacsi.
Antoine Griezmann (66th) after preparatory work by Kylian Mbappè ensured the French equalized.
Driven by frenetic fans, Hungary had long passionately defended their 1-0 lead after Attila Fiola's goal (45th + 2).
In the German group F, France now has four points, Hungary celebrated its first point win.
As was the case last Tuesday before the Hungarians 3-0 defeat at the beginning of the game against defending champions, thousands of local battle-goers moved through the city to the stadium with chants, but also fireworks and firecrackers.
In the stands of the Puskas Arena, 55,998 spectators cheered on their teams, around ten percent of whom were fans of the French team.
The latter got to see almost the same team as in the 1-0 victory at the European Championship debut against Germany. Only defender Lucas Hernandez from FC Bayern Munich was replaced by Lucas Digne from FC Everton. The Hungarians only exchanged once: Loic Nego began on the right instead of Gergö Lovrencsics. As in the first group game, national coach Marco Rossi relied on his Bundesliga quartet of Gulacsi, Willi Orban, Roland Sallai and captain Adam Szalai.
With midsummer temperatures of more than 30 degrees, the hosts got off to a stormy start to the cheers of their compatriots. The French star ensemble around Mbappè, Griezmann and Paul Pogba responded to the brisk start with calm and serenity and thus took over the sovereignty on the field after a good ten minutes. In the 14th minute Karim Benzema and Griezmann had the 1-0 on the foot, but failed to Hungary goalkeeper Gulacsi. The keeper of RB Leipzig confirmed his outstanding EM impression early on in the game.
Then the Hungarians were shocked: In the 23rd minute, Captain Szalai was lying on his back on the grass and had to be treated. Then the Bundesliga professional of FSV Mainz 05 was visibly dazed and accompanied by supervisors from the field. The 33-year-old could no longer play and was replaced by Nemanja Nikolics. According to the Hungarian Association, Szalai was hit in the head and felt dizzy.
In the 31st minute, Griezmann, Mbappè and Benzema worked together for a playful climax, at the end of which Real Madrid striker Benzema shot just wide of the goal. The world champion dominated the game at the latest from this point on, had 67 percent possession, but often lost himself in beauty. Hungary, on the other hand, shone with efficiency in injury time in the first half: Attila Fiola used the first chance to score after a one-two with Freiburg's Sallai to make it 1-0, after he escaped from Munich's Benjamin Pavard, and made the highly acclaimed French face dead.
Even after the restart, the world champion remained superior, but unsuccessful in front of the opposing goal. The hosts passionately defended their lead in the “Hexenkessel” Puskas Arena. At first only substitute Ousmane Dembele (59th) had a chance to score, but only hit the post. Only Griezmann then redeemed the favorite with his seventh European Championship goal to make it 1-1. Bad luck for Leipzig's Willi Orban: As he did against Portugal, he involuntarily put the ball on for the French during a defensive action.