Hungary end 30-year wait

Bordeaux: Adam Szalai and Zoltan Stieber scored second-half goals as Hungary stunned highly-fancied Austria 2-0 in their Group F opener in Bordeaux yesterday.

Austria, tipped as tournament dark horses, dominated the opening period but Szalai fired Hungary ahead on 62 minutes with Stieber wrapping up a shock victory over their old rivals late on in the 138th meeting between the sides.

Aleksandar Dragovic was sent off for Austria shortly after Szalai ended an 18-month goal drought as Hungary made a triumphant return to a major tournament having last featured at the 1986 World Cup.

Hungary goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly kept a clean sheet as he became the first 40-year-old to feature at the European Championship, surpassing Germany’s Lothar Matthaus as the oldest player in tournament history.

Austria captain Christian Fuchs and winger Martin Harnik were the only two survivors from the country’s debut campaign eight years ago named in Koller’s starting line-up.

However, they were inches away from the perfect start when Bayern Munich star David Alaba went agonisingly close to justifying his billing as one of the potential stars of the tournament when his dipping left-footed strike from outside the area crashed against the post.

The versatile Alaba, operating in his customary central midfield role with Austria, soon fired another warning to Hungary with a first-time strike at Kiraly after a threaded pass through from Marko Arnautovic.

Szalai miscued a header from a Balazs Dzsudzsak free-kick in a rare opening for Hungary.