On Saturday, August 8, the Groupama Arena was the scene of a true football celebration. Our team hosted none other than Real Madrid for a preseason match.

The stadium was packed, and fans were already waiting around the Groupama Arena two or three hours before kickoff for the teams to arrive.

Although we called the match a preseason game, Balázs Borbély and the team prepared thoroughly to welcome their famous guests. Our head coach shuffled the deck a bit; while he sent our players onto the field in the familiar 4-2-3-1 formation, there were still a couple of surprises in the lineup. Here’s how our team lined up at kickoff: 

Dibusz – Osváth, Gómez, Zohoré, Cadu – Kanikovszki, Rommens – Csirkovics, Arzani, Varga Z. – Joseph

On the other side, Real Madrid’s starting lineup featured names like Eduardo Camavinga, Federico Valverde, newly signed Denzel Dumfries, and Brahim Díaz. Two-time Champions League-winning Portuguese head coach José Mourinho left stars such as Vinícius Jr., Antonio Rüdiger, and Bernardo Silva on the bench.

First Half
The first chance of the match came for Fradi early in the fifth minute through Daniel Arzani, but our midfielder’s powerful shot missed the Madrid goal. Of course, the response wasn’t long in coming: first, Nathan Zohoré made a masterful save to deny Brahim Díaz, and then Dénes Dibusz stopped a shot by Arda Güler.

In the 15th minute, Alexi Ciria’s shot sailed over our goal. It came as no surprise that the Spaniards had more possession, but even so, we certainly didn’t play a subordinate role. And we certainly weren’t intimidated; in the 22nd minute, for example, Cadu found himself in a scoring position but failed to connect cleanly with the ball inside the visitors’ penalty area.

In the 36th minute, Dénes Dibusz made a great save off a shot by Endrick, but in the 41st minute, he was unable to stop Mario Rivas’s shot (0-1) .

Second Half
At halftime, Balázs Borbély made nearly a complete lineup change, and Ferencváros resumed the match with the following lineup:

Á. Varga – O. Nagy, Raemaekers, Zohoré, O’Dowda – Á. Nagy, Corbu, Levi – Zachariassen, Kodro, Yusuf.

Bamidele Yusuf’s shot from the corner of the penalty area was the first chance of the half. The second opportunity, however, came right in front of Ádám Varga’s goal, and Alex Espi—who had replaced Camavinga—fired the ball into the lower right corner (0-2).

In response, Kenan Kodro fired the ball into the lower left corner! Our forward, who had returned from loan, capped off a beautiful play with a nice finish in front of Real’s goal (1–2). Our goal-scorer left the field shortly afterward.

In the 79th minute, Valverde took a free kick, but from 20 meters out, he blasted the ball over Ádám Varga’s goal. Ten minutes later, Edgar Szevikjan found himself in a scoring position, but our Armenian winger also failed to find the net. In stoppage time, Toon Raemaekers beautifully outmaneuvered Vinícius Jr. inside our penalty area, while on the other side, Szilárd Szabó came very close to a huge scoring opportunity. 

However, no further goals were scored, Real Madrid won 2-1 after 31 years again against our team.