This was the 22nd time the two teams had faced each other in the top flight, and, unsurprisingly, the head-to-head record favored Ferencváros: our record stands at 15 wins, five draws, and just one loss. Fradi’s chances were further boosted by the fact that we had not suffered a single defeat in Kisvárda in their previous ten matches: our team’s record heading into the match was seven wins and three draws.

Our team took the field in Kisvárda following a 2-1 Europa League victory over Viktoria Plzeň. With Thursday’s upcoming Europa League match against the Portuguese side Torreense already in mind, Balázs Borbély sent the team out in the following lineup:

Radnóti – Osváth, Raemaekers, Gómez, O’Dowda – Maiga, Corbu, Zachariassen – Arzani, Levi, Lisztes.

In other words, just as in Thursday’s Europa League match, Dániel Radnóti started in goal this time as well.

First Half
The match didn’t start well: in the 3rd minute, Toon Raemaekers and Dániel Radnóti failed to communicate on a ball played back toward the goal; our goalkeeper brought down the home team’s forward, Soma Novothny, and Gergő Bogár immediately pointed to the penalty spot. However, the home team’s captain, Soma Novothny, blasted the ball over the crossbar—so the match didn’t start quite as badly after all.

We had to wait until the 12th minute for Fradi’s first chance, when, at the end of a nice play, Habib Maiga shot from 18 meters out in the center, sending the ball over the crossbar following a cross from Callum O’Dowda. In the 21st minute, Radnóti made a confident save on Herc’s shot from 16 meters out.

After that, we took control of the match and had much more possession, but it was the home team that scored: in the 32nd minute, Melnyik curled a shot from 17 meters into the lower left corner (1-0).

The team heeded the fans’ call: in the 39th minute, Popovics was forced to make a spectacular save first on Zachariassen’s solo run, then on Maiga’s shot, and he did the same on Zachariassen’s header a minute later. In the 42nd minute, following Maiga’s header, the home team’s goalkeeper pushed the ball out for a corner from the base of the right post.

Second Half
At halftime, Krisztián Lisztes was replaced by Bamidele Yusuf, and the match continued as it had ended in the first half: we were on the attack, while the home team tried to counter. In the 57th minute, Arzani curled a shot from 18 meters just wide of the top left corner.

We dominated possession, but the equalizer just wouldn’t come. That is, until the 75th minute, when Arzani played a through ball to set up Callum O’Dowda inside the box, who fired it into the bottom corner (1-1). Minutes later, our right back came close to scoring again, but the score remained unchanged.

The next match is on Thursday at 6:45 p.m. against Torreense of Portugal in the UEFA Europa League.