Flawless against Armenia but winless versus Portugal

Armenia's football history began in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union their national football association being founded in January 1992 and becoming a member of UEFA and FIFA that same year. Its men's national team has been a participant in European Championship qualifying for the past three decades, during which time the Hungarian national team has only met them once, in a non-competitive match on neutral territory. This friendly match in Cyprus on 18th February 2004 saw Hungary, then managed by Lothar Matthäus, manage to win with second-half goals from Imre Szabics and Krisztián Lisztes.

In contrast, many of our most celebrated past players have played for Hungary against Portugal but in 15 fixtures, we've never won and have only drawn four times so far. The first time, in 1926, finished in an exciting 3-3 draw in Porto, József Holzbauer (2) and József Braun scoring the Hungarian goals. Interestingly, even our two most heralded teams of the past have failed to beat Portugal either. in 1933 we suffered a one-goal defeat, in 1938 a four-goal loss and in 1956 we had to settle for a 2-2 draw with goals from Sándor Kocsis and Mihály Lantos. 

In 1966, in a World Cup group-stage match in Manchester, only Ferenc Bene could respond once to a Eusébio-inspired Portugal which scored three times, while in 1983, in Coimbra, we came away with a goalless draw. Fast forward 15 years and a 1998 European Championship qualifier in Budapest saw the visitors score three goals with only Ferenc Horváth's goal coming in reply, after which another three goals were conceded in the return match in Lisbon a year later. We were again unsuccessful in the 2009 World Cup qualifiers, both matches ending in defeat - 1-0 in Budapest and 3–0 in Lisbon.

Possibly our most memorable ninety minutes against Portugal came in Lyon at Euro 2016, when another 3–3 draw in the two teams' final group match saw us finish as group winners ahead of our illustrious opponents, thanks to goals from Balázs Dzsudzsák (2) and Zoltán Gera. The two 2018 World Cup qualifiers were less successful, given that we left Lisbon with a 3–0 defeat and the Groupama Arena at home with a single-goal loss. Another European Championship tournament finals group match, hosted in Budapest, saw Hungary withstand Portuguese pressure until the 84th minute, before Cristiano Ronaldo's team scored three goals to take all three points.

Our most recent meeting, in last month's World Cup qualifier, was also unsuccessful as, despite Barnabás Varga's two headers we slipped to a late 3-2 defeat in the Puskás Aréna. Portugal are clear favourites ahead of this return match in Lisbon, especially when you bear in mind that our last three matches there have all resulted in 3-0 home wins, but this time the match will be played at the Alvalade stadium, not Benfica's home of the Luz. We've drawn three times on Portuguese soil, but this will be the first time the two teams have met at the home of another famous Portuguese club, Sporting CP.

Hungary's record versus Portugal: 15 matches, 4 draws and 11 losses. The goal difference: 12–36 in Portugal's favour.