After our wonderful victory in Salzburg in the UEL main draw, Zalaegerszeg awaited our defending champion men's soccer team in the 11th round of the Fizz League.

Head coach Robbie Keane made several changes to the team that won in Austria. Bence Ötvös played in defense, Naby Keita and Callum O'Dowda started, and Mohammed Abu Fani, Zsombor Gruber and Gábor Szalai also came on.

First half

Barnabás Varga, who leads the scoring chart with seven goals, could have taken the lead in the first minute. Our striker received a great pass, took the ball past the goalkeeper, but slipped up in the finish. In response, Alen Skribek took a nice shot from inside the box, 12 meters out, but Dénes Dibusz made the save. In the 4th minute, Varga had another great chance, but our striker shot the ball over the goal after a great pass from Bamidele Yusuf.

In the 8th minute, Ötvös tried his luck from close range after a header, but his attempt was blocked by Bence Gundel-Takács. On the Zalaegerszeg side, Joao Victor got into a good shooting position, but his shot went wide of the top right corner.

Neither team had any significant chances for a long time, but in the 26th minute, Ibrahim Cissé had a great opportunity. Our French defender Ötvös headed the ball from three meters out, but Gundel-Takács deflected it for a corner. ZTE had a few minutes of dominance. First, Bence Kiss shot wide from a promising position, then Joao Victor tried again, but Dibusz made an easy save.

Fradi then took the initiative, and as a result, Varga took the lead in the 34th minute. First, Yusuf got into position, but the ball bounced off him, right in front of Varga, who lifted it into the goal from 7 meters with the help of the crossbar. 1-0!

Seven minutes later, ZTE's players created a great opportunity with a spectacular passing move, and Skribek slotted the ball into the bottom right corner from 12 meters out after a pass from Joao Victor. 1-1!

In the 44th minute, Abu Fani played a brilliant pass to Gruber, who was running behind the defense. Our striker even looked at the corner, but Gundel-Takács made a great save and sent the ball out for a corner. The score remained 1-1 until halftime.

Second half

Robbie Keane made three substitutions for the second half. Jonathan Levi, Daniel Arzani, and Gavriel Kanikovszki came on. Levi had a good scoring opportunity in the 50th minute, but his attempt was easily saved by the ZTE goalkeeper. At the other end, Dibusz made a great save to deny Skribek. Five minutes later, our goalkeeper was powerless to prevent José Calderón from dribbling past two of our defenders inside the box and scoring from 10 meters out. 1-2!

ZTE remained on the attack, with Dibusz once again making a great save from Maxsuell's shot from 17 meters.

Our head coach also refreshed the attacking line with Aleksandar Pesic. We had more possession, and Levi fought for a great opportunity. Our Swedish player kept the ball in front of the box and shot from 17 meters, but missed the goal. In the 82nd minute, Cissé sent in a great cross from the right, and Pesic arrived in the middle, but his shot went straight into the goalkeeper's hands.

In the final minutes, Ferencváros tried everything to equalize, and in the 90th minute, Pesics had a chance to score, but Gundel-Takács saved again. During stoppage time, Zalaegerszeg made three substitutions, breaking our momentum. In the sixth minute of extra time, we got a corner, but the visitors cleared it with a header, and we had no more chances to score.

Our team took the lead but ultimately suffered a 2-1 defeat against ZTE at home at the Groupama Arena.