Cologne (Germany), Jun 15 (AP) Switzerland held off a Hungarian fightback to win its European Championship opening game 3-1 on Saturday.

Goals from Kwadwo Duah and Michel Aebischer — both surprise picks in the starting lineup — left Switzerland in control at halftime but Barnabas Varga's header put Hungary back in contention.

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Breel Embolo made sure of the win when he scored on the counterattack in stoppage time with a lob over the goalkeeper.

Earlier, Duah opened the scoring in just his second game for Switzerland, shooting low past goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi off a pass from Aebischer.

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Aebischer made it 2-0 just before halftime, sidestepping away from Attila Fiola to find space on the edge of the box to hit a curling low shot past Gulacsi.

Varga's diving header in the 66th off Dominik Szoboszlai's cross brought celebrations for Hungary as some of its black T-shirt-wearing hardcore fans lit flares. Hungary kept Switzerland under pressure after that but couldn't find a second goal.

Switzerland is second in Group A after host nation Germany beat Scotland 5-1 on Friday in the tournament opener. Hungary had its first loss in a competitive game since September 2022. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)