🌍 Portugal beat Finland as Hungary shocked by Ireland and Italy draw | OneFootball

Nations continued to warm up for EURO 2024 with the tournament in Germany rapidly approaching and sides keen to ensure their squads are fine tuned for the occasion.

Portugal, Hungary and Italy were all in action this evening. Here’s how it all unfolded.

Italy manage drab draw with Turkey

Defending champions Italy will take few positives from their friendly ahead of the EURO 2024 tournament kicking off in 10 days as they played out a drab 0-0 draw with Turkey.

It was a game that very much had an end-of-season feel to it, with neither side looking convincing and the half time whistle coming without an effort on target between the two teams. Italy, in a new look back four, could not get midfield man Lorenzo Pellegrini on the ball as much as they would have liked, and found their creativity stifled as a result.

Though the hosts again shaded possession, Spalletti’s side mustered just a single shot on target across the second half despite the best efforts of Mateo Retegui, one fewer than their opponents as the second half was increasingly broken up by substitutes and stoppages.

But neither side could find a way to break the deadlock, and in the end it was spoils shared in a game that will do little to inspire confidence in either side’s chances of lifting the European Championship trophy next month.

Ireland shock Hungary

John O’Shea’s Republic of Ireland produced a major shock as they scored late to beat Hungary at the Aviva Stadium.

Scorers: Idah 36′, Parrott 90+2′: Lang 40′

The home side were on the backfoot for much of the first half, but took the lead with their first effort of the game when Adam Idah headed home a cross from midfielder Will Smallbone,

But that lead did not last long, with Hungary finding a way back onto level terms just four minutes after falling behind as a Willi Orban header fell to the feet of Ádám Lang, who promptly fired it past Caohmin Kelleher and into the roof of the net.

It was largely a case of deja vu in the second half, with Hungary enjoying most of the ball and testing Kelleher on several occasions in a bid to break the deadlock, but to no avail.

And there was a sting in the tail as Tottenham striker Troy Parrot slotted home in injury time to hand his side a famous win, and dent Hungary’s preparations for the upcoming tournament by handing them their first defeat in 15 outings.

Portugal beat Finland

Portugal survived a late scare to run out winners against a Finland side that offered very little for much of the encounter.

Scorers: Dias 18′, Jota 45+2′ (pen), Fernandes 55′, 84′: Pukki 72′, 77′

It was an underwhelming start for the much-changed home side, who had a lot of the ball without offering much with it. However, after Rafael Leão won a corner with an enterprising run, some terrible defending from Finland allowed Ruben Dias a free header to open the scoring.

From then on, it was domination from the hosts as they looked particularly threatening down the right hand side through midfielder Francisco Conceição on his first start for Roberto Martinez’s side.

He fired an effort at Lukas Hradecky before being fouled inside the penalty area in first half stoppage time. Though the referee initially awarded Portugal a free-kick, VAR intervened and Diogo Jota made no mistake from 12 yards to double his country’s lead against a Finland side who saw just 25% of the ball and couldn’t test José Sá.

The second half began in a similar vein despite Martinez changing half the outfield players at the break, and Conceição found Bruno Fernandes on the edge of the area, with the Manchester United talisman curling the ball into the top corner to add a third for his side.

But Finland refused to bow out meekly, hitting back with two goals in seven minutes courtesy of Norwich legend Teemu Pukki. Sent on just after the hour mark, the striker took seven minutes to find the net with Finland’s first shot on target, before adding a second five minutes later to cut Portugal’s lead to one, and leave them facing a nervous final 10 minutes.

Fernandes settled those nerves five minutes from time though, adding a fourth for his side and ensuring that there would be no sting at the finish.