Soccer Football - UEFA Euro 2024 Qualifier - Group G - Bulgaria v Hungary - Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria - November 16, 2023 Hungary's Zsolt Kalmar and Daniel Gazdag celebrate their second goal an own goal scored by Bulgaria's Alex Petkov REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov
SOFIA (Reuters) -Hungary qualified for the Euro 2024 finals with a game to spare after a last-gasp own goal from Alex Petkov earned them a 2-2 away draw against Bulgaria in their qualifying Group G on Thursday.
The result put them on top of the group with 15 points from seven games, with an unassailable four-point lead over third-placed Montenegro.
Hungary took the lead through Martin Adam's close-range header following a free kick from captain Dominik Szoboszlai from the right after 10 minutes.
Marco Rossi's squad seemed close to doubling their lead, but on Bulgaria's first chance, Spas Delev scored with a shot into the top right corner to make it 1-1 in the 24th minute.
The hosts were dealt a blow before halftime when they were reduced to nine men after red cards for Valentin Antov and Ilia Gruev, but the VAR intervened to overturn the latter and keep hopes of a Bulgarian comeback alive.
Hungary were also reduced to 10 men early in the second half when Milos Kerkez was sent off and suffered a major setback in the 78th minute as Kiril Despodov scored with a penalty to give Bulgaria a 2-1 lead.
As Hungary got close to suffer their first defeat in a year, Petkov headed in his own goal from a corner seven minutes into stoppage time to send his team into their third consecutive European championship finals.
Montenegro secured a 2-0 win at home against Lithuania on Thursday, courtesy of goals from Edvin Kuc and Stevan Jovetic.
Hungary will host Montenegro on Sunday.
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City, additional reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk)
