Following Thursday’s 3-1 away victory over Celtic, our men’s soccer team continued its campaign on Sunday evening in the 8th round of the OTP Bank Liga as the visiting team against Nyíregyháza Spartacus. Head coach Balázs Borbély made five changes to the team that had triumphed in the Europa League match in Glasgow, bringing in Attila Osváth, Csongor Lakatos, Callum O’Dowda, Naby Keita, and Krisztián Lisztes. Ferencváros started with the lineup of Varga – Osváth, Raemaekers, Lakatos, O’Dowda – Keita, Corbu, Yusuf, Zachariassen, Arzani – Lisztes, with Naby Keita serving as team captain.

First Half

The home team had their first chance in front of Ádám Varga’s goal in the 3rd minute, but our midfielder, Máriusz Corbu, was able to clear the ball with a header away from the attacker. Shortly afterward, Corbu also took a shot at the Nyíregyháza goal, but Balázs Tóth made an easy save. In the 7th minute, the home team took the lead: after intercepting a poor pass, Zsombor Hős dribbled his way into the penalty area and slotted the ball into the bottom left corner from ten meters out (1-0).

Spartacus didn’t let up. In the 12th minute, Ádám Varga deflected a free kick by Mátyás Katona for a corner, and shortly afterward, Marko Kvasina’s long-range shot crashed off the crossbar. The rest of the match was played mostly in midfield; the next time goalkeeper Tóth was forced to make a save was in the 24th minute, but the resulting corner kick only led to a blocked shot.

Several minor fouls went unpunished in the following minutes. In the 39th minute, Fradi also hit the crossbar on a long-range shot by Attila Osváth, and shortly after, Krisztián Lisztes narrowly missed a cross from the Hungarian national team defender.

The score remained unchanged, and at halftime, Nyíregyháza led 1-0 thanks to their early goal.

Second Half

At halftime, Balázs Borbély substituted Csongor Lakatos for Mariana Gómez; this was the coach’s only substitution. After the teams switched sides, we had our first dangerous chance in the 51st minute, when Kristoffer Zachariassen headed the ball toward the goal from 10 meters following a cross, but Balázs Tóth was able to make the save. Things weren’t going our way, as evidenced by Krisztián Lisztes’s failure to convert a pass from Callum O’Dowda from five meters out. Finally, in the 60th minute, the deadlock was broken when Lisztes played the ball to Gómez Mariano. His first shot on goal missed, but our defender turned away from Levente Katona, and he slammed the ball into the net from close range (1-1).

Nyíregyháza coach Tamás Bódog responded to the equalizer with substitutions and, out of necessity, was forced to pull his goalkeeper. Shortly afterward, the home team threatened several times; in the 70th minute, Ádám Varga made a crucial save, but the score remained tied. On our side, Franko Kovacevic came on for Lisztes, and Veljko Birmancsevics replaced Daniel Arzani; yet it wasn’t them but Keita who took a shot from distance in the 80th minute—but missed. Keita was then replaced by Ádám Nagy, and Yusuf by Matús Bero; Nagy received a yellow card almost immediately.

The drama for us came in stoppage time: although Zachariassen found the net in the 90+1st minute, Bognár ruled the goal offside. The final score was 1–1, and this time we had to settle for a single point.

Following this round, there will be an international break; our team’s next match will be on October 10, a home game against DVSC.