Hungary vs Montenegro prediction: EUROPE: Euro – Qualification betting tips on match 2023-11-18 14:00.
It was a pulsating night for Hungary on Thursday as Bulgaria’s Aleks Petkov scored a 97th-minute own goal to level the game at 2-2 and secure his opponents’ place at EURO 2024. It’s a third successive appearance at a European Championship finals for the Magyars, who’d not managed to reach the tournament proper in any of the ten editions prior to that run.
While their spot in Germany is already secured, Marco Rossi will want his men to round off their fine qualifying campaign in style and maintain their current unbeaten run in the cycle (W4, D3), especially with the top position not yet secured. Another bore draw like the one with Montenegro back in June would most likely be enough to seal top spot in Group G, yet the home side’s recent form suggests such a result is unlikely with both teams scoring in each of Hungary’s past five matches.
The four European Championship Qualifying (ECQ) fixtures within that run also produced at least one goal inside 30 minutes, as did Montenegro’s 2-0 win on Thursday over Lithuania. Edvin Kuč’s strike after just three minutes set his side on their way to a crucial victory that kept their qualification hopes alive. They come into this final fixture two points behind second-placed Serbia but with no comfort blanket of a potential play-off spot, meaning the away side have to go for broke here and hope Serbia lose against bottom-placed Bulgaria.
Last month's 2-1 defeat away to Serbia could end up proving terminal to their qualification hopes, but it was Montenegro’s only defeat from their last five ECQ matches (W2, D2). The best of that improving fighting spirit has come at home, while on the road Montenegro have continued to struggle. They’ve actually won just two of their previous 16 ECQ trips (D4, L10), with both wins coming against the sides sitting bottom of that edition’s qualifying group (Bulgaria 2023, Moldova 2014).
Players to watch: Liverpool star Dominik Szoboszlai had a hand in both goals on Thursday for Hungary, and he also produced two goal contributions (G1, A1) in last month’s draw against Lithuania. Eyeing up another fast start, Kuč’s strike on Thursday was his third first-half effort from as many matches for Montenegro.
Hot streak: Hungary’s current run of five straight ECQ home wins is their best such streak since 1968.