CRISTIANO RONALDO became the European Championships’ all time leading goalscorer with two second half strikes in Portugal’s 3-0 win against Hungary.
Ronaldo is the only player to play – and score – in five Euros tournaments, with his first goal making him the first player in the tournament’s history to score 10 goals.
His second of the game took him to 106 Portugal goals, just three shy of the all time record number of international goals currently held by Iran’s Ali Daei.
All 24 nations have now played one game at Euro 2020 after France beat Germany 1-0 in Tuesday’s second Group F fixture between the 2018 and 2014 World Cup winners.
GROUP F: Hungary 0-3 Portugal
PORTUGAL started the defence of their Euros title in front of 67,000 fans in Budapest, as Cristiano Ronaldo became the tournament’s all time top scorer.
Ronaldo should have broken the Euros scoring record late in the first half, but uncharacteristically fired over the bar from close range, and Hungary thought they had taken the lead in the second half but the effort was ruled out for offside.
The home nation did well to keep the visitors at bay until Portugal broke the deadlock in the 84th minute. There was an element of fortune about Raphael Guerreiro’s opener, as his shot took a deflection off defender Willi Orban and wrong footed Hungary keeper Peter Gulacsi.
Ronaldo converted a penalty three minutes later before he netted his second in stoppage time, when he took the ball around Gulacsi and slotted home.
GROUP F: France 1-0 Germany
FRANCE came out on top in the last of the first round of Euro 2020 group games, thanks to a first half Mats Hummels own goal, but they were unable to convert their dominance into a more comfortable victory.
Hummels turned a Lucas Hernandez cross from the left into his own net in the 20th minute and that was enough for victory for a France side who seemed to be playing in low gears for much of the game.
But Paul Pogba – whose superb diagonal pass to Hernandez led to the own goal – and Kylian Mbappe went close, Mbappe and Karim Benzema had goals ruled out for offside, and an Adrian Rabiot effort hit the outside of the post.
Thomas Muller and Hummels were recalled for Germany for this tournament, and Muller, Ilkay Gundogan and Serge Gnabry squandered chances for the home nation, but it was a deserved win for the pre-tournament favourites at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
There were two other talking points from this game. A Greenpeace protester parachuted into the stadium just before kick-off, with a piece of equipment falling off as he came into land on the pitch – and Pogba claimed that he was bitten on the shoulder by German defender Antonio Rudiger in the first half, although replays were inconclusive.
GROUP B NEWS: Christian Eriksen says he is ‘fine – under the circumstances’ after a cardiac arrest on the pitch during Denmark’s opening Euro 2020 group game against Finland on Saturday.
The Inter Milan star collapsed late in the first half of Denmark’s Group B game and was given life saving CPR. But he appears to be recovering well – and posted a picture on social media from his hospital bed with a thumbs-up on Tuesday morning.
Eriksen thanked fans for their support via Instagram. “Now, I will cheer on the boys on the Denmark team in the next matches,” he wrote. “Play for all of Denmark.”
The Danish midfielder is now in a stable condition in a Copenhagen hospital. He added: “Big thanks for your sweet and amazing greetings and messages from all around the world. It means a lot to me and my family. I’m fine – under the circumstances. I still have to go through some examinations at the hospital, but I feel OK.”
GROUP D NEWS: Aaron Ramsdale has been recalled to the England squad as a replacement for injured goalkeeper Dean Henderson.
Manchester United keeper Henderson has withdrawn with a hip problem and will return to his club for treatment. Sheffield United’s Ramsdale has not yet won a senior England cap, but was part of the provisional 33-man squad.