Although our league match against MTK Budapest had initially been scheduled for 19:30, the exceptional weather conditions and the resulting potential difficulties with the energy supply prompted the Hungarian Football Federation (MLSZ) to introduce immediate measures to reduce energy consumption, bringing kick-off forward by two hours. Despite the change, almost 3,000 supporters came to the Bozsik Arena and created a fantastic atmosphere for the clubs' landmark 200th top-flight meeting. Before the game, the Puskás Foundation and our club presented the Puskás Awards to the academy's outstanding player and coach, Tamás Somogyi and Viktor Petrók, before the match got underway.
Maurizio Jacobacci had a full squad available for the match, meaning Kevin Kántor could return to the bench after a lengthy absence. The Italian coach made just one change to the starting XI that faced Kisvárda: Pauljevic was selected in place of Kállai.
Alic was sent through with a perfectly timed pass in the fifth minute, but our forward fired over. In the 12th, Zuigeber received the ball facing goal but was unable to control his volley after the cross, sending it over the bar. Three minutes later, Zuigeber picked out Szamosi with a superb pass, and he finished ruthlessly under the crossbar (1–0). In the 22nd minute Csontos sent a free-kick towards Baki at the far post, who headed the ball back beautifully towards Boldor arriving in the middle, but his header flew inches over the bar. In the 33rd minute, following a defensive lapse, Kerezsi almost equalised out of nowhere, but his shot went just wide of the right post. Zeljkovic tried his luck with a long-range volley in the 42nd minute but missed the target. The same could not be said of Somogyi Ádám, who gave Demjén no chance with a ferocious strike into the right side of the net from a good twenty metres (2–0). MTK replied just three minutes later: after a cross from the left bounced fortuitously off Kerezsi into the path of Jurek , he wasted no time and fired into the right corner (2–1). We remained sharp after the interval. Hangya and Alic combined, and the former delivered an excellent ball to Zuigeber in the middle, who scored from close range. However, VAR ruled the goal out for offside. In the 53rd minute, Kerezsi equalised (2–2). In the 62nd minute Somogyi tried another long-range shot; our 19-year-old midfielder would probably have scored his second goal in only his second top-flight match had an MTK defender not made a courageous block, sending the ball behind for a corner. A minute later Baki volleyed from Csontos's corner, but Demjén produced an outstanding save. In the 76th minute Medgyes received a good pass from Hangya and aimed for the left post, but Demjén did not need to intervene. Nine minutes later, Kállai played a perfectly weighted pass to substitute Kántor, who took the ball past Demjén at exactly the right moment. The goalkeeper could only stop him with a foul, and the referee pointed to the spot. Csontos made no mistake. Then, in the 94th minute, the referee sent off Baki in a highly debatable decision and, after the resulting free-kick, István Bognárequalised once more (3–3).
Next Sunday we visit Paks at 17:00 in round three of the OTP Bank Liga.
OTP BANK LIGA 2026/27, ROUND 2
KISPEST–HONVÉD FC–MTK Budapest 3–3 (2–1)
Bozsik Arena, 2,891 spectators. Referee: Balázs Katona (Theodoros Georgiou, Balázs Szert).
HONVÉD: Tujvel – Pauljevic (Kállai, 56), Baki, Boldor (Pekár, 79), Hangya – Somogyi Á., Csontos – Zuigeber (Pinte, 68), Szamosi (Medgyes, 68), Somogyi T. – Alic (Kántor, 79). Head coach: Maurizio Jacobacci
MTK: Demjén – Varju (Armalas, at half-time), Beriashvili, Radic, Kovács P. – Jurek (Klausz, 64), Kata, Zeljkovic, László (Bognár I., at half-time) – Hinora (Komáromi, 27), Kerezsi (Zsóri, 82). Head coach: Máté Pinezits
G: Szamosi (15), Somogyi (44), Csontos (87, penalty); Jurek (45+2), Kerezsi (53), Bognár (90+6).
Sent off: Baki (90+4).
Maurizio Jacobacci:
Overall, I have to say this was a match in which Honvéd proved they can more than hold their own in the first division. We matched MTK completely and even established a two-goal lead in the first half, which could have settled the game. Unfortunately, it didn't go that way: we conceded late in the first half and went into the break 2–1 ahead. We began the second half with another good attacking move and scored, but the goal was ruled out for offside. Then there was an extended spell of alternating attacking and defensive phases, and we conceded a second goal, again down the right side. We will learn a lot from this and must certainly improve in that area in future. We took the lead again from the penalty spot, but then made the mistake of dropping too deep and inviting pressure. We committed a foul that gave our opponents a free-kick. I feel sorry for the lads about the result, because they fully deserved the win.
Máté Pinezits:
After the first half, coming back into the match like that leaves us with mixed feelings. On the one hand, you're extremely angry because we reacted badly to certain situations in the first half and had to come back from two goals down. At the same time, even at 2–0 we felt we could score at any moment, because we had chances. At half-time we talked about not merely equalising, but turning the game around. Once we made it 2–2, we had three or four clear chances to take the lead. After our rather flat first-half performance, we showed tremendous heart to fight our way back into the game yet again. I think the draw was fair, even though we secured it in the dying seconds.
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