The reigning European champions started their title defense on Tuesday.
Portugal, which won the 2016 edition of the European Championships, kicked off their Euro 2020 tournament with a Group F tilt against Hungary.
Later, reigning World Cup champions France squeezed by Germany in a thriller to tie a bow on the first matchday of action for Group F’s combatants.
As per usual, Cristiano Ronaldo was at the forefront of the early action. The 36-year-old Portuguese superstar made history as soon as the opening whistle blew, becoming the first player to play at five men’s European Championships.
The Portugal captain also broke two more records with a late penalty, becoming the first player to score in five Euros and the all-time top scorer at the tournament.
He wasn’t done there, adding another goal to his tally for good measure.
Here are the top moment’s from Tuesday’s action in Europe:
Hungary 0-3 Portugal
For a while, it seemed that Ronaldo’s history-making for the day would be relegated to his five appearances at the Euros.
Portugal were on the front foot for the entire first half but couldn’t find the breakthrough, including a series of missed chances from CR7 himself.
The second half brought more of the same, and Hungary actually grew a bit more into the game and brought more of a fight to the reigning champs.
Portugal left it late, but they eventually were rewarded with a victory after being frustrated by Hungary for nearly 85 minutes.
Raphaël Guerreiro got a bit of fortune as his effort took a deflection, skipping past Hungary goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi for the game’s opening goal in the 84th minute.
Then a foul in the box resulted in referee Cüneyt Çakır pointing to the spot.
Ronaldo stepped up to slot home to take a 2-0 lead and sole possession atop the leaderboard of goals scored at the competition.
Naturally, he punctuated the goal with his trademark celebration.
In stoppage time, Portugal cooked up a breathtaking goal, which Ronaldo put home with his left foot.
The goal gave him 11 career goals scored at the tournament, further building his lead atop the list.
Considering that Group F is billed as the Group of Death, getting the full complement of points will be a big sigh of relief for Portugal — even if they had to sweat it out to get the result.
France 1-0 Germany
France’s Paul Pogba picked out Lucas Hernandez with a pearl of a pass to pick apart Germany’s defense just shy of the 20-minute mark, and from there, it was nothing short of calamity for Die Mannschaft.
Mats Hummels scrambled back to cover Hernandez’s whipped-in cross, but the German center back wound up deflecting the ball right into the back of his own net.
Given the star power involved in this marquee matchup, one wouldn’t expect an own goal to be the way the early deadlock was broken — but that was exactly the case.
Right before the stroke of halftime, Germany’s Antonio Rüdiger apparently felt like going for a quick snack prior to heading to the locker room.
It’s tough to say exactly what the German center back was doing there, but it appears as though he attempted to bite Pogba as they jostled for position.
Pogba’s complaints to the referee didn’t result in any form of punishment. To be fair, Rüdiger warned that the Germans would have to play “a little dirty,” but that incident might have been a bit beyond the pale.
One of Germany’s best chances to level came off the boot of Serge Gnabry in the 54th minute. However, the attempt was driven just a touch too hard into the ground, and it bounced up and over the French crossbar.
Later, in the 66th minute, France nearly had a second off the fancy feet of Kylian Mbappé.
Unfortunately for Les Bleus, Mbappé was ruled offside by the slightest of margins, and the goal was chalked off.
Even so, that was one hell of a finish — even if it didn’t count.
Hummels secured his redemption after Mbappé had another bite at the apple in the 78th minute. The German center back perfectly timed a tackle after Mbappé blazed after a through ball, ending the threat in fantastic fashion.
France had another goal ruled off for offside by VAR before the game was over, but their 1-0 advantage via the early own goal was enough to be the difference in a huge win for the defending champions.
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