Germany’s Jamal Musiala scored once and set up three more goals as they crushed visitors Hungary 5-0 on Saturday in a winning start to the Nations League competition.

The hosts took the lead in their Group A3 encounter with Niclas Fuellkrug’s tap-in from midfielder Musiala assist following a good passing combination in the 27th minute.

With Hungary pushing for an equaliser, Musiala struck on the break in the 58th, completing a quick counter-attack from a visitors’ corner.

Florian Wirtz then drilled in their third after a one-two with Musiala in the 66th.

Man-of-the-match Musiala then sent through Aleksandar Pavlovic in the 77th to slot in and Kai Havertz also got onto the scoresheet with an 81st- minute penalty.

“It was fun to watch,” said scorer Fuellkrug.

Irish links

England’s Declan Rice and Jack Grealish shrugged off their hostile reception in Dublin by scoring both goals in England’s win over Ireland and said they have nothing but respect for the opponents they once represented.

Rice played for Ireland at youth level and made three senior appearances for the country before changing his allegiance, a decision which many Irish fans still find hard to accept.

As his every touch was booed by sections of the home support, Rice paid little attention and gave England the lead but chose not to celebrate, and not only because of his time playing for the opposition.

“My nan and granddad on my dad’s side of the family are all Irish, they’ve passed away and are not here anymore so I think to have celebrated would have been disrespectful, I didn’t want to do that,” Rice told Sky Sports.

“I had such an amazing time playing for Ireland, in the first team, Under-19s, Under-21s, they were great memories that live with me.

“I don’t have a bad word to say and I wish them all the best like I do with anyone.”

Jack Grealish, who scored England’s second goal in the 2-0 win, also represented Ireland at the youth level and the atmosphere on the ground came as no surprise.

“It was what me and Declan expected. We have nothing bad to say, we both enjoyed our time (playing for Ireland),” Grealish said to ITV.

Grealish was left out of Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2024 squad, but made the most of his recall by interim manager Lee Carsley.

Carsley, himself a former Ireland international, proved that old habits die hard when he went to sit in the home dugout before realising his mistake.

“I did go down the tunnel and turn right,” Carsley said with a smile to RTE.

“As you know, I spent a lot of time on the bench so I know exactly where that is.”

Dutch delight

Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman was understandably pleased with his side’s positive start as they beat Bosnia 5-2 on Saturday and can look forward with confidence to Tuesday’s clash with Germany.

The Dutch were 2-1 up but allowed Bosnia back into the match at 3-2 with some 15 minutes remaining, only to go on and score two late goals for a convincing winning margin.

The home side at times produced some flashy football to the delight of the crowd at the Philips Stadion and their coach.

“We played very well. Very fresh, fast, often finding the man between the lines. We certainly had a good phase after the break, but then we had to kill off the match,” said Koeman. Reuters