Our team most recently won 2–1 at home against Puskás Akadémia, meaning they head into the big match against ETO FC from the top of the table. Our team has faced Győr twice this season: first, we won 2–0 on the road last fall, and then we suffered a 3–1 loss at home this past January. A sold-out crowd awaits the teams at ETO Park for the third clash, which will decisively influence the fate of the league title. The two green-and-white squads played an important match there last year as well, though back then Puskás Akadémia was the challenger to our defending champions; this year, Győr is fighting for itself. Following the midweek make-up match, our Irish coach Robbie Keane sent our team onto the field with the following lineup:  

Dibusz – Gómez, Raemaekers, Szalai – Nagy B., Kanikovszki, Corbu, Abu Fani, Osváth – Kovacevic, Joseph.

First Half

ETO kicked off the match, and the first big chance fell to the home side: Benbouali broke down the left flank past Raemaekers, but his cross into the box was blasted over the bar by Njie. After some early mistakes, we earned our first corner, which Gómez headed toward the goal, but Petras tipped the ball over the bar. The rest of the half saw plenty of tough challenges, and referee Berke’s whistle could be heard frequently at ETO Park. In the tenth minute, Kovacevic received a great pass, but the defenders managed to block his shot, so we got a corner. Dénes Dibusz also had to make a brilliant save on Schön’s header; the Győr midfielder broke free from Osváth to get into position. ETO kept up the pressure, but the home team’s crossbar saved our team from conceding a goal. After a pass from Abu Fani, Joseph broke free down the right flank and delivered a superb ball to Kovacevic, who, however, blasted it over the bar. Abu Fani found his teammates nicely, but the home defense managed to clear the danger on Joseph’s chance as well. Our midfielder also came close to scoring, but Petras was able to save his shot. There were still chances for both sides toward the end of the first half, but we didn’t see a goal.

Second Half

After the break, Njie had the first chance, but his attempt went wide. Following a Győr corner, Abu Fani broke free and found Kanikovszki on his right; our Israeli midfielder’s shot was saved by Petras. In the 65th minute, our head coach made two substitutions, taking off the two players who had received yellow cards. What followed was hard for our bench to swallow; despite the VAR review, the referee ultimately ruled it offside, so the foul against Joseph wasn’t even reviewed. Barnabás Nagy played a through ball to Grubert, but our attacker’s cross failed to find anyone in the middle. After a corner, ETO took the lead with a goal by Bánáti; the play was then reviewed at length by VAR, and the match resumed with a kick-off (1-0).

The referee added seven minutes of extra time, during which there was a lot of tension on the field. The home team was stalling for time, and Robbie Keane took a risk: he left Gómez up front to play as a striker. In the 96th minute, however, it wasn’t our Argentine defender but Gruber who had a huge chance, but Petras made the save, and the equalizer didn’t happen.

There are still three rounds left; the championship isn’t over yet!

Next up, we take the field at Groupama Arena on Wednesday, April 22, at 8:00 PM in the MOL Hungarian Cup semifinals, with ETO FC as our opponent once again.