Austria 0 Hungary 2: Szalai and Stieber stun 10-man favourites

Hungary stunned 10-man Austria 2-0 as second-half goals from Adam Szalai and Zoltan Stieber earned a surprise victory in their Euro 2016 Group F opener.

Austria came into Tuesday's meeting in Bordeaux as the favourites to get their campaign off to a triumphant start, having cruised through qualifying in style, dropping just two points from their 10 fixtures.

But Hungary, who scraped into the play-offs before defeating Norway, had other ideas and after being on the back foot for much of the first half, took the lead just after the hour through Szalai's prodded finish.

And things went from bad to worse for Marcel Koller's men four minutes later when defender Aleksandar Dragovic was - perhaps harshly - shown a second yellow card.

Hungary, making their first appearance at a major international tournament in 30 years, clinched victory on the counter three minutes from time through substitute Stieber to get off to the ideal start in a group also containing Portugal and Iceland.

But it was almost a nightmare start for the veteran, who breathed a sigh of relief when Alaba's rasping shot from distance inside the opening 35 seconds struck the right-hand post.

And the Bayern Munich star went close again in the 10th minute, firing straight at Kiraly from Marko Arnautovic's clever pass.

Austria continued to look the more likely to break the deadlock and Kiraly was called into action once again in the 35th minute as he dived to his left to parry Zlatko Junuzovic's effort following Marc Janko's knockdown.

And Austria's plight worsened soon afterwards when Dragovic caught Tamas Kadar in trying to reach the ball inside the Hungary area and referee Clement Turpin brandished a second caution.

As time ticked away and Austria pressed hard for a leveller, they left themselves open at the back and Tamas Priskin freed his fellow replacement Stieber, who lifted a composed finish over Almer to spark wild scenes of celebration.

 

- Gabor Kiraly has become the oldest player to feature at the European Championships (40y 74d), overtaking the record set by Lothar Matthaus in June 2000 (39y 91d).
- Adam Szalai scored his first international goal since October 2014 against the Faroe Islands.
- Aleksandar Dragovic was the first Austrian player to be sent off at a major tournament since Peter Artner was sent off against the USA at the 1990 World Cup.