Hungary v England: Nations League – live!

November 25 1953, and Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, Nándor Hidegkuti, Zoltán Czibor, József Bozsik, Gyula Grosics et al rock up to Wembley, where they set about putting English football firmly in its place. You’d have thought the 6-3 humiliation visited upon Walter Winterbottom’s team would have led to a period of reflection, regrouping and realignment … but no. England blithely put the thrashing down to a bad day at the office, and few lessons were learned. Off to the Népstadion they went, six months later, to play the return fixture on May 23 1954 with pretty much exactly the same tactical plan. Here’s how that panned out, then, in the words of the pre-MBM-era Manchester Guardian.

GOAL! Hungary 1-0 England (Lantos 8): “Lantos took a free kick ten yards outside the penalty area and with a drive which had to be seen to be believed, put the ball high into the corner of the net. It crashed in like a bullet.”

GOAL! Hungary 2-0 England (Puskás 22): “Continued pressure by the faster and more dangerous Hungarians brought a second goal when Puskás netted after the ball rebounded from a defender. At this stage the home players were now doing almost as they liked.”

GOAL! Hungary 3-0 England (Kocsis 31): “After several dangerous moves on both flanks, Hungary became three up when Kocsis scored from close range. The English defence was all sixes and sevens against the precise passing and beautiful positional play of the Hungarians.”

GOAL! Hungary 4-0 England (Koscis 56): “Then came a brilliant spell during which Hungary scored three goals in four minutes. The man who did all the damage was Czibor, the tricky, speedy outside-left, though he did not get one of them. Czibor first of all flicked a neat pass to Kocsis and the inside-right scored after a lovely run on the left …”

GOAL! Hungary 5-0 England (Tóth 60): “… Czibor then put Tóth through for a fifth …”

GOAL! Hungary 6-0 England (Hidegkuti 62): “… and finally Hidegkuti sent in a terrific shot just inside the upright from a perfect Czibor pass from his outside left.”

GOAL! Hungary 6-1 England (Broadis 69): “England did not give up the battle and Broadis got a lovely goal from the edge of the area with a hard shot wide of the keeper.”

GOAL! Hungary 7-1 England (Puskás 73): “Hungary’s captain broke away in the centre and shot past Merrick after disposing of the rest of the English defence.”

FULL TIME: Hungary 7-1 England. Oh Walter! The result stands as England’s biggest-ever defeat, although: Hungary’s golden team somehow conspired to lose that year’s World Cup final; England went on to win the World Cup a dozen years later; the English are firm favourites to come away with all three points from Budapest tonight. But some stains never wash away, and good luck avoiding talk of 1954 whenever this fixture is played during the next few centuries. It’s just the way things have to be. Kick off at Puskás Aréna Park is at 5pm BST. It’s on!