Kiraly blanks Austria in win for the ages

Even at Gabor Kiraly's age, winning a match at the European Championship was something new.

The Hungary goalkeeper set an age record at the tournament on Tuesday and helped his team beat Austria 2-0 with several good stops.

"He contributed to this victory," Hungary coach Bernd Storck said of Kiraly, the first 40-year-old to play in the continental championship. "He was rewarded for all of his hard work over the years."

Kiraly, famous for his grey tracksuit trousers, eclipsed the old mark set by Germany's Lothar Matthaus, who was 39 when he played at Euro 2000.

"He was chosen in goal because he's a great player," said Storck. "I never said I had old players, I have good players. I still think he's one of the best in the world."

Adam Szalai gave Hungary the lead at Stade de Bordeaux with his first goal in 12 appearances. Substitute Zoltan Stieber added the other after Austria was reduced to 10 men when Aleksandar Dragovic was shown a second yellow card.

"I don't want to talk about myself; the whole team won," Szalai said. "Everyone worked together. I think we managed to do everything our manager told us in terms of advice and strategy."

It was the first European Championship match for Hungary in 44 years and the first tournament the country has qualified for since the 1986 World Cup. Hungary's next match is against Iceland on Saturday in Marseille.

Kiraly dove to block a shot from Zlatko Junuzovic in the 35th minute and smothered a shot from David Alaba in the 10th.

Austria was favored in the match and was an outsider for the tournament title after going through qualification unbeaten and finishing at the top of its group, eight points above Russia.

"The start of the match was very good," Austria coach Marcel Koller said. "We had good combination play which got us some chances. All in all we were too nervous. I'm not used to my team doing this."

Szalai scored in the 62nd minute after playing a one-two with teammate Laszlo Kleinheisler. He ran into the box and latched onto the return pass before blasting a shot under Austria goalkeeper Robert Almer.

Austria thought it had equalized moments later when Martin Hinteregger put the ball in the back of the net, but it was waved off for a foul and Dragovic was sent off with a second yellow card.

Stieber made it 2-0 in the 87th, bursting down the right flank from inside his own half and lifting a long ball over the onrushing Almer.

Alaba, a defender who plays for Bayern Munich, was at the heart of most of Austria's attacking moves. He nearly scored in the opening minute but his 25-yard effort hit the bottom of the right post.

"I think we were still the better team, even though that might be shocking," Alaba said.

"Now we just have to forget this and push on."

Versatility hurting Alaba, says Koller

David Alaba was quiet as Austria's Euro 2016 campaign got off to a poor start with a 2-0 loss to Hungary on Tuesday, leaving coach Marcel Koller to suggest the player's versatility might be hurting him.

The 24-year-old has been tipped to be one of the standout performers in France but, while he impressed in the early stages, he failed to make a decisive contribution as Hungary took control of the Group F opener.

Koller said that playing Alaba in the middle, when he plays at leftback with Bayern Munich, might explain why he struggled to make the right sort of impact.

"For us he plays in central midfield but for Bayern he plays in defense," Koller said. "Maybe that creates a bit of a problem.

"If he had scored a goal with his early chance you wouldn't be questioning him," Koller added. "We saw today that Alaba has an excellent technical side to his game."