On Tuesday 7 June, Italy face Hungary in Cesena in the second match of this edition of the Nations League. The sky-blue contingent of Juventus has had many magic moments with the Magyars, starting with the presence of two Bianconeri in the World Cup final won in 1938, Alfredo Foni and Pietro Rava. However, not everyone knows that Juventus have played Hungary in four friendly matches, the last of which was in 1977 (in the photo, Captain Furino exchanging pennants).
3-1 FOR THE BIANCONERI
On 18 August 1977, defending champions of Italy, Juventus welcomed Hungary at the Comunale Stadium. The Bianconeri were coming off a wonderful season, having won the scudetto and the Uefa Cup. In the first outing in Turin of the new season, Giovanni Trapattoni's team collected an impressive 3-1 success. An own-goal opened the scoring, Roberto Boninsegna (in the photo) added a second and Franco Causio wrapped up the match.
A POWERHOUSE JUVE
Look at the photo of the line-up before kick-off against Hungary. Standing left to right, the six players are Gentile, Morini, Zoff, Spinosi, Bettega and Benetti. Squatting are Cuccureddu, Tardelli, Causio, Boninsegna and Furino. There is not even one new signing in the starting XI selected by the coach. Juve were a consolidated side in need of no substantial reinforcements. In fact, the Scudetto was successfully defended, making it the Lady’s 18th Serie A title.
NINE OUT OF ELEVEN
A year later, in the summer of 1978 the Juventus side was presented at Villar Perosa. Apart from the only exceptions Pietro Paolo Virdis and Francesco Morini, there were nine players in the team that had taken to the field two months earlier to face Hungary at the World Cup in Argentina. In one of the most impressive performances in Italy’s history, the Azzurri ran out 3-1 winners thanks to goals from Paolo Rossi, Roberto Bettega and Romeo Benetti.
A CHILD'S IDOL
Playing a part in the history of Italy-Hungary was also once a Hungarian international at Juventus. In 1928, the Azzurri prevailed 4-3 and one of the scorers for Hungary was Ferenc Hirzer, who had won the scudetto two years earlier, scoring 34 goals in 26 matches - enough for him to become the idol of a child who would often go to admire him in training. That child was Gianni Agnelli.
TRADEMARK DEL PIERO
The last time that Italy played Hungary in the Bel Paese dates back to 2001. The match in Parma was decided by an Alessandro Del Piero goal (in the photo, in a training session for the national team) in the last minute of the first half. His masterpiece of a free kick gave the Azzurri three important points towards qualifying for the 2002 World Cup Korea/Japan.