Marco Rossi: We're on the right track

Although the Hungarian men's national team lost 3-2 to Russia in the Puskás Aréna, Marco Rossi found lots to be content with in the performance.

"I'm very happy with the team because although we didn't dominate the match, we had more possession than our opponents and we had more opportunities to score," he said. "However, we made quite a few mistakes from which the Russians scored goals. I don't remember the last time the Hungarian national team fought for a draw at the end of the match having been 3-0 earlier on, but I definitely consider this to be positive. I know we have to work on some more things, and it's worth noting that we weren’t at full strength in terms of our squad size either and that it couldn't cater for all positions. Sometimes the timing in defence wasn't good, and they weren't fully organised; in the first half, the Russians attacked twice and scored two goals. Overall, I’m happy with the two matches (this week) and our teamwork was good in both matches.

Although we fell short today, we also need to look at how we suffered defeat and at what level our opponents are. The biggest positive of the two matches played this week is that we've shown we can compete against stronger teams. In terms of what what we definitely need to improve on, in today’s football, we need to score from more of the situations we create, in order to be successful. I'm not happy with today's result, but we can be satisfied with the performance. We are on the right track in terms of preparing to face Bulgaria (in the EURO 2020 play--off semi-final)," Rossi added.

Meanwhile, Russia's head coach Stanislav Cherchesov put it this way: the match would have been completely different if it had been played in front of spectators.

"I hope that the next Hungary-Russia match which will be held here in this great stadium can be played in front of spectators. If there had been supporters today, it could easily have been a completely different result...".