Jamal Musiala and Ilkay Gundogan scored as hosts Germany became the first team to qualify for the last-16 of Euro 2024 on Wednesday after beating Hungary 2-0 in Stuttgart.
Musiala struck for the second game running midway through the first half, much to the anger of Hungary players who felt a foul should have been awarded in the build-up.
Gundogan grabbed his side's second on 67 minutes as Germany eased to a second successive win in Group A, making sure they will progress to the knockout phase at least as one of the best third-placed sides.
Julian Nagelsmann's men can wrap up top spot when they play Switzerland in Frankfurt in their final group fixture on Sunday.
“We are getting better, but as we improve we have to overcome some problems, that is what this game showed today, especially in the first half,” said Gundogan. “But that's the tournament – you have to survive such situations. We survived and then hit back.
“I wanted to remain patient, to complete my tasks without taking myself too seriously. The more often you train together, the better the feeling for your teammates as well – the feeling gets better with the lads around me.”
Hungary are staring at elimination after back-to-back defeats and must beat Scotland if they are to stand any chance of reaching the last 16. “Scotland is a very physical team,” said manager Marco Rossi.
“The most important thing to do in the last match is to show on the pitch what our fans are always asking from us – they know our level. I don’t ask them to score goals, I ask them to give their maximum effort.
“We’ve worked on tactics and mentality, my lads responded pretty well and I’m proud of their performance. I said a while ago that losing against Germany can happen. They have world-class players.
“Our approach could’ve worked, but they have quality all over the pitch. That is part of the game, we’re created a fair number of chances, but we were unlucky in some moments. All throughout the match we were unlucky.”
Hungary almost struck in the opening seconds as Manuel Neuer raced out to take the ball off the toe of Roland Sallai.
Kai Havertz outmuscled Willi Orban only to be superbly denied by Peter Gulacsi, who thrust out his right hand to deny the Arsenal attacker.
The host nation took the lead when Musiala cushioned the ball through for Gundogan and the Germany captain kept the attack alive after jostling with Orban, knocking it back for Musiala to slam in off the crossbar with a touch off Attila Fiola.
Dominik Szoboszlai's curling free-kick drew a terrific stop from Neuer soaring to his right, the goalkeeper kicking away the follow-up as Hungary tried to scramble in the rebound.
A key block from Jonathan Tah foiled a second opportunity in quick succession for Szoboszlai, with Musiala then drilling into the side-netting at the other end.
Hungary had the ball in Germany's net in first-half stoppage time, but Sallai's effort was ruled out for offside after Neuer palmed away an Orban header.
Germany picked apart the Hungary defence with a patient attack to double their lead just past the hour. Maximilian Mittelstaedt found space down the left and slid across a pass for Gundogan to sweep home from near the penalty spot.
Neuer had a nervy moment late on when he spilt a cross, but Kimmich cleared Orban's shot off the line to preserve the clean sheet for Germany.
