On Monday evening at 20:45 the Hungarian national team hosted Italy in the last group match of the Nations League at the packed Puskás Arena. It's no exaggeration to say that if the largest Hungarian stadium had twice the capacity, all tickets would have been sold out in no time, which is no wonder, given that the national team was playing for group qualification against the defending European champions. Even to describe it is unbelievable, but before kick-off Hungary were top of the group with three wins, a draw and a defeat. We had beaten England - whose elimination from Group A of the Nations League was already certain after the last day of play - back and forth, winning 1-0 at home, 4-0 in Wolverhampton, drawing 1-1 at home to 2014 world champions Germany and beating them 1-0 in Leipzig a few days ago. So far we have only lost to Italy, losing 2-1 in Cesena at the beginning of June.

Marco Rossi, the national team captain, made only one change to the team that won the last game against Germany, replacing Dániel Gazdag with Vidi's Loic Nego, so both players from Fehérvár started.

HUNGARY: Gulácsi – Lang, Orbán, Szalai Attila – Fiola, Nagy Á., Schäfer, Kerkez – Nego, Szoboszlai – Szalai Ádám. Manager: Marco Rossi

ITALY: Donnarumma – Tolói, Bonucci, Acerbi, Di Lorenzo – Jorginho, Cristante, Dimarco – Barella, Gnonto, Raspadori. Manager: Roberto Mancini

Before the kick-off, the team captain Ádám Szalai, who played his last match for the national team, was given a farewell ceremony by MLSZ President Sándor Csányi. The Hungarian fans cheered the Italian anthem and more than 62,000 people sang the Hungarian anthem. The atmosphere before the starting whistle was exhilarating, and even more so afterwards!

We started the game well, with a free kick from a dangerous position in the 2nd minute, but Szoboszlai's shot was blocked and the rebound bounced off a defender and out for a corner. At the other end, Di Lorenzo's cross was met by Gulácsi, who almost dropped the ball into our goal, but Attila Szalai managed to clear from the goal line. In the 12th minute, Di Lorenzo headed just wide from 11 metres after Raspadori's free-kick. Four minutes later, after a duel between Fiola and Jorginho, the Vidi captain had to receive treatment briefly, but Fityó was able to continue the game.

In the 27th minute, Italy took the lead after a big defensive mistake: Ádám Nagy passed the ball home short, Gulácsi pounced on the ball, which Gnonto attacked, and the ball bounced to Raspadori, who shot into the empty goal from six meters (0-1).

After five minutes Di Lorenzo shot just wide from 14 metres. At the other end, Fiola got on the end of a free-kick, but the Italian overwhelming presence won the day, with four men - and great difficulty - managing to tackle the Vidi captain in front of the Italian goal. Three minutes before the break, Attila Szalai found himself in a great position after Szoboszlai's free-kick, but he shot wide of the target from a few yards out. After the Italian goal, we managed to play in the dominant position for the rest of the half, but we could not get past Donnarumma in the visiting goal. 

The second 45 minutes started with a close-range header from Di Lorenzo, but the real action came at the other end in the 50th minute. Nego's 12-metre shot was blocked by the Italian goalkeeper, the rebound was met by Soboszlai, whose shot was blocked by the defenders, but the ball was not cleared, Styles, who came on as a substitute at the break, shot from 17 metres, Donnarumma made a great save, and then Ádám Szalai's close-range follow-up was also saved by the visitors' keeper. We could have scored four times in a minute, but instead the European champions doubled their lead on the counter-attack, Cristante's pass was flicked under the bar by Federico Dimarco, who was a few steps ahead of Nego (0-2).

In the 56th minute, Nego's sensational cross was headed goalwards by Styles from close range, but the ball was caught by the onrushing Donnarumma, who unfortunately had an excellent day. In the 63rd minute, Styles threatened again, his 18-yard shot deflected off Bonucci but Donnarumma still managed to save. The home side had mobilised a tremendous effort to score and it is no exaggeration to say that we had the best team in Europe pinned to their goal.

In the 78th minute, Ádám Martin, on for Ádám Szalai, received a brilliant ball from Fiola, and the Hungarian striker was only denied a 14-metre shot because he was pushed from behind, the referee waved play on and even after a VAR review, the penalty was not awarded in our favour. 

The result remained unchanged in the last ten minutes, and the Hungarian national team eventually finished in second place in the Nations League "group of death", ahead of England and Germany. Marco Rossi's side have two more friendly matches to play this year, against Luxembourg on 17 November and Greece three days later.