After a 2-1 UEFA Europa League group stage win at home against Crvena Zvezda, Ferencváros men's football team continued their title race in Mezőkövesd. The success of Vasas against Fehérvár in the 11th round of the OTP Bank Liga meant that Mezővesd prepared as current last against the current first of the league. Head coach Stanislav Cherchesov decided to rest several of our key players and sent out the following starting line-up:  Dibusz – Auzqui, Sigér, Thelander, Knoester, Pászka – Esiti - Gojak, Mercier – Marquinhos, Boli.

First half

We could not have started the encounter better. Xavier Mercier played a greatly our Brazilian striker Marquinhos, who calmly shot past the goalkeeper into the bottom right corner (0-1). The Mezőkövesd players was somewhat blocked by the early goal, until the 8th minute, when Drazic had two chances, but neither threatened our goal. In the 11th minute, Dávid Sigér, playing in defence, received a yellow card for a poorly paced entry. At the end of the first quarter of an hour was not ours: first a penalty was disallowed by the video referee for a handball inside the penalty area, then a short pass from Gojak created a great chance for Mezőkövesd, but Dibusz made a great run out of his goal and cleared. In the 22nd minute, another Mercier assist was almost registered, but Knoester's close-range header was saved by Piscitelli. The Italian goalkeeper then cleared a free-kick from Mercier off the head of Thelander. A great home chance was missed, at the end of a nice combination: Drazic set up Besirovic who shot straight from 16 meters which Dibusz saved to a corner. We survived the corner kick, and a minute later Besirovic's close range shot was cleared by Dibusz. It was Mezőkövesd's moments, and they managed equalise: a left-wing corner was slid in by Lukic at the five-meter line, where Karnitski nodded home from close range (1-1). In the 30th minute, Gojak swung in a free-kick from 25 metres out, but the ball went straight into the hands of Piscitelli. Later on, Pászka got the ball in the half-court, Gojak raced on to it and Boli centered to Mercier, whose shot was saved by the goalkeeper, as was Auzqui's follow-up. At the other end Besirovic fired inches wide of the left post from 17 meters. Lukic was also booked for Marquinhos' clearance. In the 40th minute, Pászka had a free kick from 25 metres out, but his shot was wide of the target and Piscitelli had no trouble. In the 44th minute, Mercier rolled in front of the onrushing Boli, who shot from the corner of the five-meter box, but his effort was weak. Before the break Marquinhos was also shown a yellow card for tipping the onrushing Drazic. The score at half-time was 1-1.

Second half

Neither manager made a substitution at the break. Kövesd missed the first big chance in the second half when Drazic had a shot at the end of a series of strikes but Pászka dived in. Karnitski was then shown a yellow card and the home side almost scored, Gojak headed in a cross from the right, but Piscitelli cleared the ball out of the bottom left corner. Another yellow came, this time for us, Pászka's sliding tackle was poorly timed. In the 55th minute, Mercier launched Marquinhos but the goalkeeper got the ball. In the 59th minute, Pászka sent in a perfect cross from the left, but Auzqui bombed over the top. Our team made two substitutions in the 59th minute: Mercier and Auzqui were replaced by Zachariassen and Botka. In the 65th minute, Dino Besirovic spun up and shot the ball from 20 yards out, which hit the crossbar. In the 67th minute another Pászka cross came from the left, this time Boli headed wide from 4 metres. Our manager made three substitutions in the 67th minute, with Gojak, Esiti and Boli coming off and being replaced by Traoré, Vécsei and Ryan Mmaee. With the substitutions our team reverted to the usual 4-2-3-1 formation. Kövesd also made a substitution, with Vadnai replacing Kállai. In the 77th minute, Besirovic tried again from long range but missed badly. In the 82nd minute Besirovic was fouled by Botka inside the penalty area and a penalty was awarded. Dibusz sensed the direction but Drazic gave the home side the lead (2-1). In the 87th minute Zachariassen's shot was blocked. In extra time, Zachariassen's header was headed on goal by Traoré and the referee, with the help of the video referee, spent a long time reviewing the incident, but ultimately the goal was disallowed.

Our team suffered its second defeat of the season in the league, but still tops the NB I standings!