Turkey vs Hungary prediction: EUROPE: UEFA Nations League – League A/B – Relegation betting tips on match 2025-03-19 17:00.
[p]A surprising 3-1 defeat to Montenegro on matchday six of the UEFA Nations League (UNL) denied Turkey a second successive promotion. Instead, Vincenzo Montella’s men were leapfrogged by Wales and demoted into this relegation/promotion play-off where a second chance awaits them, with Hungary providing the opposition.[/p]
[p]A considerable challenge awaits the Crescent Stars as they have failed to win any of the last five H2Hs (D1, L4), and lost both meetings without scoring when the pair faced off in the 2020/21 UNL campaign. As the unseeded side, Turkey host the first leg and ought to be confident having avoided defeat in each of their last six home matches (W4, D2), last being beaten on their own turf in March 2023. [/p]
[p]Hungary are looking to extend their stay at the UNL’s top table into a third campaign, needing to navigate this play-off to do so after finishing below Germany and the Netherlands in Group A3 (W1, D3, L2). The Magyars were beaten heavily by both of those sides as visitors, but they can take heart from the fact they last lost back-to-back UNL away matches in October 2018.[/p]
[p]A poor UNL campaign followed an underwhelming performance at Euro 2024 in which they were eliminated at the group stage, but boss Marco Rossi has kept faith with the players that have served him well. Of the Euros squad, 20 players remain for this play-off as Hungary chase back-to-back H2H away wins for the first time in nearly a century.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Without a goal for Juventus since early January, Turkey’s most recent scorer Kenan Yıldız has seen his last three strikes for club and country come in the first half, but none ended in wins (D1, L2). Hungary captain Dominik Szoboszlai will look to shake off the disappointment of losing the League Cup final with Liverpool at the weekend and add to his three UNL goals in this cycle, two of which came in an away win against Bosnia & Herzegovina.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Hungary haven’t scored before the half-hour mark in any of their last ten competitive matches. [/p]
[p][i]Written by Alex Bowmer[/i][/p]