Sallai stunner secures vital three points

Rossi had opted to replace injured central defender Willi Orbán with experienced right-footed defender Attila Fiola in his starting line-up, Ádám Lang and Attila Szalai making up the three-man defensive line in front of goalkeeper Dénes Dibusz. A four-man midfield of Milos Kerkez, Ádám Nagy, Callum Styles and Loic Nego sat behind a dynamic front three of Roland Sallai and captain Dominik Szoboszlai just behind lone central striker Barnabás Varga.

Hungary were well organised, combative and ruthlessly efficient on the counter-attack from the outset. Although Serbia dominated possession throughout, their only goal came via Pavlovic's flicked header from Zivkovic's right-wing corner, one which levelled the scores after Varga's smart, low finish from Loic Nego's 20th-minute cutback, but which was rendered immaterial just two minutes later when Sallai turned cleverly and lashed a spectacular 36th-minute volleyed winner high into the left side of the visitors' goal from 20 metres.

An action-packed second half saw Serbia put the ball in the Hungary net twice within the first eight minutes, only for both to be ruled out for offside, as well as hit the right post twice from close range within a few seconds midway through the half as pressure mounted on the hosts. Hungary gave as good as they got though and managed to create numerous opportunities, one for substitute Bendegúz Bolla who shot wide when clean through on goal and several for the dangerous Varga, but the closest the prolific Ferencváros frontman came to extending Hungary's lead came was when his looping header bounced off the crossbar in the 68th minute.

Although Serbia pushed hard in the remaining time, they couldn't penetrate Hungary's stoic defence and on the rare occasions they did, they came up against Dibusz in outstanding form, not least in the 93rd minute when he somehow diverted Milinkovic-Savic's close-range header over the crossbar, an action which effectively secured victory for Marco Rossi's team. Not even Zsolt Kalmár's red card for a second bookable offence after the final whistle could dampen sky-high Hungarian spirits!

This hard-earned three points means Hungary now top their European Championship qualifying group on 13 points, three ahead of Serbia in second spot and five ahead of Montenegro on eight, meaning one more win from their next three fixtures will ensure qualification for EURO 2024 in Germany next summer.

HUNGARY 2-1 SERBIA (HT: 2-1)

Referee: Francois Letexier

HUNGARY (surnames first): Dibusz Dénes – Fiola Attila (Botka Endre, 74), Lang Ádám, Szalai Attila – Nego Loic (Bolla Bendegúz, 63), Nagy Ádám, Styles Callum (Kalmár Zsolt, 63), Kerkez Milos – Sallai Roland (Kata Mihály, 74), Varga Barnabás (Ádám Martin, 84.), Szoboszlai Dominik

SERBIA: V. Milinkovic-Savic – Pavlovic, Milenkovic, Erakovic (Tadic, 46.) – Terzic (Kostic, 46.), Sz. Milinkovic-Savic, Gudelj, Zivkovic (Radonjic, 75.) – Gacinovic (Djuricic, 67.), Mitrovic, Lukic (Ratkov, 84.).

Goalscorers: HUN: Varga Barnabás (21.), Sallai Roland (34.) SRB: Pavlovic (33)