Rossi: We want to end year on high note

Defeat to the Netherlands in Amsterdam three days ago ensured Hungary will end the Nations League group stage in third place, a position which means the squad will contest a home-and-away play-off with a B League runner-up next March for the right to remain in the highest tier during the tournament's next edition. The play-off draw will be held on Friday 22 November at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

There has been one enforced change to the squad which travelled to Amsterdam, an injury to Bendegúz Bolla meaning he's left the national squad to seek further treatment.

Neither Hungary nor Germany have anything at stake in Tuesday's match in Budapest in terms of final positions, the visitors having already secured top spot in the group. However, Hungary head coach Marco Rossi told attendees at the official pre-match press conference on Monday that a good performance could give the national team new energy to take into next year.

"A difficult match awaits us, since I currently rank Germany among the three best European national teams. In addition to the excellent individual quality of their players, they have also impressed as a team since Julian Nagelsmann took charge. We want to perform well and come off the pitch with our heads held high, because a good performance and result could lay the foundation for us to start the year of 2025 with new energy and a clean slate," Rossi explained.

Midfielder Ádám Nagy reiterated his coach's words at the same press conference while emphasising that they'd previously managed to take revenge on another elite European nation, England, after a heavy defeat, so now the goal is to improve against Germany after similarly heavy defeat earlier in the group phase.

"We've played Germany a few times in recent years and now our goal is to avenge the previous ugly defeat," Nagy told the listening journalists. "Not too long ago, we also suffered a four-goal margin of defeat against England, but we successfully wrought revenge that time and now we want to do the same against Germany: to right the wrong of that recent away defeat. We want to end the year with a good performance and a good result, so we can start again in 2025 with new energy and a clean slate."

The current Germany national squad:

Goalkeepers:
Oliver Baumann (TSG Hoffenheim), Alexander Nübel (VfB Stuttgart), Stefan Ortega (Manchester City)

Defenders:
Robin Gosens (Fiorentina), Benjamin Henrichs (RB Leipzig), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern München), Robin Koch (Eintracht Frankfurt), Maximilian Mittelstädt (VfB Stuttgart), Antonio Rüdiger (Real Madrid), Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen)

Midfielders:
Robert Andrich (Bayer Leverkusen), Julian Brandt (Borussia Dortmund), Chris Führich (VfB Stuttgart), Pascal Gross (Borussia Dortmund), Jamal Musiala (Bayern München), Felix Nmecha (Borussia Dortmund), Angelo Stiller (VfB Stuttgart), Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen)

Forwards:
Serge Gnabry (Bayern München), Kai Havertz (Arsenal), Tim Kleindienst (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Deniz Undav (VfB Stuttgart)

Tuesday's fixture will be officiated by Croatia's Duje Strukan, his assistants being countrymen Bojan Zobenica and Alen Jakšić and the Fourth Official confirmed as Patrik Kolarić.