France’s highest-circulation cost-free daily newspaper has showered Saturday’s Hungary-Iceland Euro2016 match with praise, emphasising the fantastic atmosphere created by the two nations’ fans.
In an article following the match, 20minutes blasted commentators who decried the game before it even begun, such as the well-known French sports journalist Pierre Ménès’s prediction of a “zero-goal, zero match”.
The report hails Hungary’s “tough, sometimes fanatical” attacks and their 70 per cent ball possession, and points out that Hungary fans constantly sung, cheered and applauded the team during the game. Although some of the fans had a brawl with security personnel inside the stadium, “ingenious”Hungary supporters provided for a rare atmosphere in Marseille’s Vélodrome arena.
Bienvenue à Budapest (2) #ISLHON (ils ne vont jamais quitter le Vélodrome) pic.twitter.com/Kijzm1JrG2
— Mathieu Grégoire (@Serguei) 2016. június 18.
France’s leading free newspaper also included a short video of fans and players singling the National Anthem together after the match, with the comment “Welcome to Budapest 2 – (Hungarians) will never leave the Vélodrome”.
At Saturday’s match, which began at 17:00 GMT, Iceland held on to the lead earned by Gylfi Sigurdsson’s first-half penalty until the dying minutes but Birkir Saevarsson’s own goal gave Hungary a share of the spoils, resulting in an 1-1 draw with the Nordic nation.
via valasz.hu
photo: Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters