Nations League group victory at stake against European champions

The aim is to reach the final four of the tournament, which would be an amazing feat given that before the start of a group including heavyweights England, Germany and Italy, barely anyone expected Hungary to even stay in Division 1.
After five matches Marco Rossi's team has gained 10 points, six against England and four against Germany, with only Italy able to defeat us thus far. If we score even just one point against the European champions in Monday's return fixture in Budapest, we will win the group and can start preparing for next year's Nations League semi-finals.

2022 - Nations League group C standings:

              P W D L GF GA Pts
Hungary  5 3 1  1  8   3   10
Italy        5 2 2  1  6   7    8
Germany 5 1 3   1 8   6    6
England   5 0 2  3  1   7    2

At the official pre-match press conference on Monday, national team head coach Marco Rossi emphasised: "the team has a huge opportunity, but we must not forget where we started from, and we must once again take to the pitch with the same humility we have in previous Nations League matches. It would be presumptuous to think that we won't have to suffer at some point in this match versus Italy. We've fought for and have earned the opportunity to play against such opponents, but we must always be aware of who we are and where we've come from. We must respect the jersey we wear and run onto the pitch with the utmost humility. Being at home can be a big advantage so we're still counting on the support of the fans. I can imagine that tomorrow's match will be memorable for me for several reasons, and not only because Italy will be our opponent. It may happen that after Monday's match we will reach the semi-finals of the Nations League, and in this case, after a very long time, the full Hungarian national team can appear in the final of the UEFA tournament. In addition, one of our important players is playing his last game in the team, which also makes the match special. If we managed to win the group, then the already tremendous atmosphere would reach its peak at a level I would like to experience more".

Playmaker Dominik Szoboszlai has already scored important goals in the national team, but he excelled for the first time in a different respect against Germany, his left-wing corner providing the assist from which Ádám Szalai scored the only goal of the match in Leipzig.

"I'm happy with my assist in Germany, but the most important thing is that the team was able to play effectively again", said Szoboszlai. "I'm happy that it was to Ádám Szalai that I gave my first national team assist and I hope I can give him another one on Monday. Home advantage can add a lot to our performance, because the backing of the crowd gives the team a lot of strength, and we saw last season too. We should not take it as pressure, but as an opportunity to fight for qualification from such a group in front of our own fans. We have to do everything we can to win, and we'll go on the pitch aiming to get the three points, but if it ends up being a draw, I won't be sad. We prepared fully during training on Sunday afternoon and despite the continuous rain, there was a great atmosphere as the players finished the session".

Our Nations League match against Italy will be officiated by Frenchman Benoît Bastien. His assistants will be Hicham Zakran and Aurélien Berthomieu, the fourth official will be Jérémie Pignard and the video referee will be Benoît Millot.