Our defending league champions suffered a painful 1-0 loss at ETO FC’s home stadium in the 30th round of the Fizz League. However, we didn’t have to wait long for the rematch, as just three days after the league match, we hosted the Győr team at Groupama Arena in the MOL Hungarian Cup semifinals.

Robbie Keane said before the match that there would be no resting of players, as his goal in every single competition is to win the trophy. Accordingly, our head coach sent our team onto the field with the following lineup:
Dibusz – Cadu, Makreckis, Gómez, Raemaekers – O'Dowda, Júlio Romao, Zachariassen, Levi – Joseph, Kovacevic.

First Half

We could only have dreamed of a start like this, as Franko Kovacevic found the back of the visitors’ net in the 3rd minute after winning the ball. (1-0) This happened just as the crowd began chanting the name of Tibor Simon, who passed away under tragic circumstances on April 23, 2002.

In the 15th minute, our Croatian forward received a yellow card after making a dangerous slide tackle on Balázs Megyer, and two minutes later, Toon Raemaekers had to receive medical attention after colliding heads with the visitors’ striker, Oleksandr Pishchur. The Győr player also received a yellow card for the dangerous challenge.

In the 20th minute, the focus finally returned to the game itself; following a beautiful combination between Levi and Cadu, our Brazilian midfielder fired the ball into the side netting. Three minutes later, Megyeri had to make a save on Joseph’s header following a cross from O’Dowda on the left.

In the second half of the half, Fradi continued to control the game, and although we didn’t manage to create any truly dangerous chances, the fact that Dénes Dibusz didn’t have to make a single save perfectly illustrated the match. Despite this, we couldn’t go into halftime with a lead, because in the 40th minute, Piscsur somehow headed a cross coming in from the right back toward the center from the far post, and Csinger, arriving in the middle, equalized. (1-1)

In the 44th minute, Cadu’s cross from the right was just a hair too high, so Joseph couldn’t control the ball as he tried to head it over Megyeri, who had come off his line poorly.

The visitors, however, were lucky again: inside our 16-meter box, the ball went from Júlio Romaó straight to Bumba, who only had to tap it into the net from seven meters out. (2-1)

But we didn’t have to go into the locker room at a disadvantage! After a cross from Cadu, Jonathan Levi headed in the equalizer in the third minute of stoppage time. (2-2)

Second Half

We started the second half with momentum; Megyeri was called into action as early as the 47th minute, though we still had to stay alert at the back because Győr hadn’t given up on scoring either. In the 62nd minute, Kovacevic threatened, but Dibusz also had his work cut out for him.

After a Győr attack, we regained control of the game in the 70th minute, and in the 74th minute we nearly took the lead again, but Kovacevic’s shot from a great position was saved by Megyeri. Our Croatian striker was extremely active, but luck was not on his side.

In the 89th minute, Gábor Szalai headed Abu Fani’s corner kick over the crossbar, and in the final moments of the four-minute stoppage time, Joseph blasted a volley just centimeters wide of the left post, so after 90+4 minutes of play, the score was 2-2, sending the match into extra time.

Extra Time

In the 95th minute, Dibusz made a huge save following a close-range attempt by Vitális. We had more possession, but mistakes kept creeping in near Győr’s penalty area. Although Stefulj found the back of our net in the 103rd minute, the Croatian forward had received the ball offside.

After the restart, in the 107th minute, Zsombor Gruber had a chance to shoot on goal, but he couldn’t get the ball past Megyeri, and two minutes later, Joseph missed a huge scoring opportunity. Megyeri saved shots from Gruber, Abu Fani, and then Gruber again. Despite attacking throughout the second 15 minutes, we couldn’t score the winning goal, so it went to penalty kicks.

Penalty kicks

Abu Fani was the first to take a shot, but he hit the crossbar. Dibusz, however, saved Vitális’s shot! Zsombor Gruber shot to the bottom right, as did Krpic (1-1). As the first shooter in the third pair, Toon Raemaekers also chose the bottom right corner, while Stefulj shot into the top left (2-2). Joseph missed, as did Benbouali! Corbu was next and didn’t miss, but Gavric’s shot bounced off the crossbar and landed in front of the goal line! 

This means that Ferencváros has reached the MOL Hungarian Cup final for the third time in a row, where ZTE will be our opponent on May 9!