Sallai out as Rossi expects fearless approach

Rossi's charges trained in Telki on Wednesday morning before flying to Istanbul, the scene of tomorrow's Nations League play-off first leg.  The afternoon saw Hungary's head coach hold his press conference at the match venue, where he confirmed that forward Roland Sallai, who is suffering from a muscle injury, didn't travel to Turkey, but is rehabilitating in Telki in the hope that he could be fit for the second leg in Budapest. Bence Dárdai and Péter Gulácsi also trained separately from their teammates today, but they did travel to Istanbul with the squad.

"The Turkish national team has made great progress in recent years; it performed well at the European Championship and in the Nations League, and the financial value of its players is double that of the Hungarian team. However, it's one thing to know how big the difference in value between the two teams is, and another thing to know what happens on the pitch when they play each other. We have no fear, so I expect a brave, passionate game from the team."

Also joining Rossi on the rostrum was defender Attila Szalai, who played his club football in Istanbul for years.

"I'm happy to be a member of the national team again and I'm confident that we'll manage to play a good match against the home team and achieve a favourable result ahead of the return match. It's a good feeling to return to Istanbul, because I spent many beautiful years here and I have fond memories of the city", reminisced Szalai, who also spoke about his former teammate at Fenerbache, Turkey's Arda Güler:

"It was clear from the first moment that he was a huge talent, but really he can thank all the hard work he's put in for the fact he plays football for Real Madrid and is among the best in the world."

Hungary's match against Turkey on Thursday will be refereed by Slovak Ivan Kružliak. His assistants will be Branislav Hancko and Jan Pozor, and the fourth official will be Peter Kralović. Michal Očenáš will assist them from his position in the VAR room.