Manuel Neuer says Germany will not be taking Hungary lightly in Stuttgart

Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer insists Germany will not underestimate Hungary as the hosts bid to book a place in the Euro 2024 knockout stages at the first opportunity.

Julian Nagelsmann’s men launched the championship with a 5-1 thrashing of Scotland and know a repeat of that result on Wednesday in Stuttgart will be sufficient for a place in the last 16.

Hungary have work to do to avoid an early exit following a 3-1 loss to Switzerland in their Group A opener.

“It’s a very tough team to play against that naturally tries to be aggressive in tackles,” Neuer, a World Cup winner in 2014, told reporters.

“We’ve already experienced that in the other games.

“We won’t underestimate them under any circumstances and will try to stay in this flow.”

Germany have largely struggled at major tournaments since lifting the World Cup a decade ago.

Manager Nagelsmann, who is aiming to end the run of underwhelming performances, expects Hungary to alter their approach after beginning with a loss.

“Ahead of the tournament, I didn’t think Scotland were much worse than Hungary, but on a similar level,” he told a press conference. “Tomorrow it’s up to how we present ourselves.

“Of course, Hungary are under pressure so I think they’ll play more offensively than against Switzerland.”

Germany are winless in their past three matches against Hungary, including a 2-2 draw at Euro 2020 in Munich.

Despite recent results, Hungary manager Marco Rossi feels his side require a “perfect match” to take anything from the game.

“On paper – and not only on paper – we know that the Germany team are better than us, which should motivate us to give it our very best shot,” said the Italian.

“Hopefully we can get a point tomorrow, but that calls for the perfect match.”