What can Scotland expect from Hungary?

Barnabas Varga's goal was not enough to deny Switzerland victory

Euro 2024, Group A: Scotland v Hungary

Venue: MHPArena, Stuttgart Date: Sunday, 23 June Kick-off: 20:00 BST

Coverage: Watch on BBC One, listen on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio Scotland, live text commentary on BBC Sport website.

On paper, the Hungary squad doesn't appear quite as formidable as Scotland’s previous two opponents in Euro 2024 Group A.

Of head coach Marco Rossi’s 26-man selection, nine are drawn from the Hungarian top flight, with others playing at the likes of Omonia in Cyprus, Le Havre in the lower reaches of France's Ligue 1, and Spezia, who finished the season at the wrong end of Italy's second tier.

However, this is a well-oiled machine that, after barren decades without big tournament football, are now party regulars at European Championships as they drink in the last-chance saloon of their third in a row.

There is a feeling that this generation of Hungarian footballers are the best they have had in many years.

Looking to live up to rich history

Hungarian internationals have come and gone down the years, living in the indomitable shadows of the great sides of the 1930s, when the likes of Gyorgi Sarosi, Ferenc Sas, Gyula Zsengeller and Pal Titkos drove them towards the World Cup semi-finals, and the greats of the 1950s.

The latter contained Ferenc Puskas, one of the greatest players to kick a football, along with Nandor Hidegkuti, Jozsef Bozsik and Sander Kocsis, all of whom provided an able supporting cast for the side known as the "Magnificent Magyars", or the Golden Team.

They would come up short against the West Germans in Bern despite being big favourites.

Two quarter-final berths would follow in the 1960s - plus a Euros semi-final in 1964 and 1972 - before a decline from which they have only really recovered in the last few years.

They haven't been to the World Cup since 1986, but their recent Euros record suggests they are finally getting their credibility back as a footballing force. Qualifying for Euro 2016 was celebrated wildly and they have kicked on since then.

Indeed, they were unfortunate not to progress from their group at the last Euros considering they drew with both France and Germany, while the current side were unbeaten as they won their qualifying group.

However, it has not been plain sailing in Germany.

A disappointing first-half performance against Switzerland has severely damaged their hopes of progression and it will have left them frustrated because they could have taken something from that match despite being 2-0 down at half-time.

There followed a positive showing against Germany. It was so positive that they had more shots at goal against the host nation than anyone has managed at a European Championship group match since the Netherlands in Kharkiv in 2012. This is a dangerous side.

Mixture of youth and experience

Dominik Szoboszlai and his team-mates were left disappointed against Germany

Dominik Szoboszlai of Liverpool is the star man. At 23, he is the youngest captain at this championship and, as you would expect, he will be the biggest danger to Scotland on Sunday night in Stuttgart.

Even in the past three years, this team has developed, encapsulated by their victories over England and Germany during the most recent edition of the Nations League, which included a stunning 4-0 success in Wolverhampton, a heaviest home defeat for them in almost a century.

Hungary were 14 games unbeaten until they lost out to Republic of Ireland in a pre-tournament friendly in Dublin - their longest defeat-free sequence in 69 years.

Like Steve Clarke with Scotland, Rossi has been focusing on weaving a tight-knit group together. They are generally solid defensively, although the Italian coach will be disappointed with some of the five goals they have shipped in their two games so far.

Bournemouth's Milos Kerkez is one of the most exciting, prodigious full-backs in Europe, while German-born Willi Orban and goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi, both stalwarts at RB Leipzig, are of a different vintage yet still crucial to the success of this team.

Hungary are in no doubt that they need to win the game to stand a chance of progressing.

The same is likely to apply to Scotland, so it could be an exciting evening for everyone on Sunday when these two nations collide in a competitive fixture for the first time.