“This win is dedicated to Barnabás Varga,” says Hungary star, with forward set to be operated on

Hungarian fans were forced to endure every possible emotion throughout their slender win over Scotland on Sunday, with Kevin Csoboth netting the eventual winner in the tenth minute of second-half stoppage time.

The Magyarok suffered a heart-wrenching moment midway through the second half, with Barnabás Varga stretchered off after being rendered unconscious through a collision inside the penalty area.

Speaking in the post-match press conference, Marco Rossi and Roland Sallai gave updates on the forward’s health and reflected on Hungary’s performance throughout the group stages.

What did Marco Rossi say?

“It was a confused situation,” admitted Rossi, quizzed as to his understanding of exactly what happened to Barnabás Varga. The forward is ‘stable and conscious’ in hospital according to an update from the Hungarian FA, and the head coach expressed that “he will be operated on in the following hours, because he suffered a fracture.”

“What I heard from the players is that in that moment he looked unconscious so everybody was worried about him in that moment and the doctors arrived a bit too late, we can say. They didn’t realise it was a dangerous situation but fortunately now we can say that he is not under any kind of risk.”

“The important thing is that he is heathy, but if we go through the competition, he will not be part of the team,” Rossi added.

Varga’s withdrawal was swiftly followed by a penalty appeal for Scotland, with the Tartan Army aggrieved to see their protests waved away by the referee after Willi Orban appeared to halt Stuart Armstrong’s run into the penalty area.

Rossi was not convinced that Steve Clarke’s men should have been awarded a chance from twelve yards, instead citing an incident in Hungary’s match with Germany that he feels was similar.

“In the previous match, I said that there was a clear foul on [Willi] Orban by [Ilkay] Gundogan and nobody talked about it, so why do we have to talk about this episode now?”

Reflecting on a chaotic match as a whole, the 59-year-old head coach suggested that “we deserved the result” but accepted that “it was an equal match in which probably we had more chances, and they had more possession.”

What did Roland Sallai say?

Speaking on the emotions of seeing his teammate require extensive on-pitch treatment, Roland Sallai commented that “it was a terrible, terrible moment to see Barnabás like that. Fortunately he’s in a much better condition [now].”

“He’s going to have to go through a minor operation probably but he’s in a stable condition and we cross our fingers that he can recover quickly.”

Named as the Player of the Match, Sallai added that the incident gave Hungary the motivation they needed to go on and secure their first win of EURO2024. “Of course we were fighting for him,” said the 27-year-old.

“We’d have liked to win for him, and so we’re very grateful we could achieve that. This win is dedicated to him.”