Hungary vs Belgium: EURO 2016 Round of 16 Preview & Prediction

Hungary face Belgium in the knockout stage of EURO 2016 on Sunday night at the Stadium Municipal in Toulouse.

Hungary will be looking to capitalise on their great form so far, whilst Belgium will be looking to confirm their intentions as serious contenders to win the tournament.

The two teams haven’t actually met in a competitive game since the 1982 World Cup, which ended in a 1-1 draw, with Belgium making their way through to the next stage.

Hungary surprised many as they topped Group F, which contained Portugal and Austria, and they find themselves flying high on confidence after comfortably dispatching Austria and taking part in one of the most exciting games of the tournament so far after their 3-3 draw with Portugal.

Marc Wilmots’ men on the other hand started the tournament slowly and without much gusto after an opening game defeat to Italy.

However; they brushed the Republic of Ireland aside with a comfortable victory and struck a second successive win with a 1-0 victory over Sweden, leaving Belgium relishing their potential route to the final.

History favours the Belgians, with the Red Devils notching eight wins from the sides previous 12 meetings.

Clashes in general are few and far between with their only game in the last 20 years coming in a friendly win for Belgium in 2009, whilst their only other competitive meeting away from the 1982 World Cup was a European Championship third-place play-off win for Belgium in 1972.

Belgium’s Kevin De Bruyne (7) in action against the Republic of Ireland – Photo: Marc Atkins / Offside.

Team News:

The Red Devils are likely to be largely unchanged with no fresh injury concerns.

However Mousa Dembele will be pushing for a starting place, whilst Belgium will be hoping that Romelu Lukaku’s goals against Republic of Ireland can spur on his form.

Hungary forward Daniel Bode is expected to miss out after only participating in limited training.

Defender Attila Fiola has also been ruled out, meaning Bernd Storck will need to do a bit of tinkering.

FIFA World Ranking: Hungary – 20th; Belgium – 2nd
Best European Championship Finish: Hungary – Third-place (1964); Belgium – Runners-up (1980)
Previous Meeting: Belgium 3-0 Hungary – November 14, 2009 (International Friendly)
Form: Hungary – DDWLDD; Belgium – WWLWDW
Key Men: Hungary – Balázs Dzsudzsák; Belgium – Kevin De Bruyne
Shoot Says: Hungary 1 – 2 Belgium