A full squad and changing plans

Wednesday’s two intense training sessions took a lot out of the national team’s players, as evidenced by the results of Thursday morning’s physiological tests, which showed muscle fatigue was well above normal levels. Head coach Marco Rossi then decided to conduct a less strenuous session than planned for the players, so as not to cause injury from fatigue.

By the end of that session, all thirty squad members were present in the training camp in Austria, the last to return Filip Holender after his club side Partizan Belgrade's Serbian Cup final appearance on Wednesday. By this point, the three Red Bull Leipzig players - Willi Orbán, Péter Gulácsi and Dominik Szoboszlai - had already returned and participated in their first session with the rest of the group.

Prior to Thursday's session, Attila Fiola and Kevin Varga attended a press conference, the former highlighting that stamina could be one of the team’s assets at the European Championship, which would explain why Marco Rossi is training them harder than usual in Austria.

"The mood is very good, but we had two such hard workouts yesterday that today the backroom staff are holding a regeneration session, because our results ​​from morning tests show muscle fatigue levels are very high," Fiola commented. "The staff places a great deal of emphasis on our stamina, because this can be one of our most important weapons in addition to team unity and determination. It's also important because many of us have not played a match for a long time", said the MOL Fehérvár defender, who admits he wouldn't mind if the team would face Cristiano Ronaldo again.

"At this year's European Championship, we'll play against the Portuguese and Cristiano Ronaldo. Five years ago at the last edition of this tournament, due to my injury, I wasn't able to play against him, but now I'm very confident that I'll be fit to play in this next match. Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best players in the world and he's terribly difficult to prepare for. Sure, you watch a lot of videos of matches, but it’s not the same as experiencing it for real. I've already played against him - in the World Cup qualifiers in 2017 - and can say it was not an easy match; sometimes we were so close, our moustaches were side by side. He is still one of the best in the world and a very uncomfortable opponent to face".

Kevin Varga, who plies his trade at Turkish club Kasimpasa, said the longer-than-usual preparation period could pay dividends at the Euros:

"The national team can usually only prepare together a few days before the qualifiers, but now we can finally be together for a longer time, which is necessary for a successful European Championship campaign. I don’t have a problem with a longer training camp because I really like being with this group. It's good we've come to Austria because the change in environment is having a good effect on us all. Having said that, the facility in Telki also provides the perfect conditions for us to prepare well".

Ádám Szalai, who has already experienced special Euro moments, aso said that the 2016 European Championships was arguably the peak of his career so far: "We're really looking forward to finally being able to step onto the pitch in front of our fans, especially in the European Championship with home advantage. I think that if we could achieve the same result against Portugal as we did five years ago, any of us would take that now and certainly the fans would be proud of us".