After Saturday's comfortable win over Csákvár, on Thursday evening we hosted Diósgyőri VTK in the standout tie of the MOL Hungarian Cup quarter-finals. As the youth-player rule does not apply to matches in this competition, the coaches had considerably more room for manoeuvre. Accordingly, Tamás Feczkó sent out a heavily reshuffled starting eleven. As in every Hungarian Cup match, our head coach again trusted Gellért Dúzs between the posts and, while he kept the now-familiar back three intact, the Szamosi–Pekár axis was reunited in midfield for the first time in a long while. After starting the wins against Móri SE and DVSC, Branko Pauljevic was also back in the line-up, while alongside our 36-year-old defender, captain Szilveszter Hangya, Zoltán Medgyes, Patrik Pinte and Ádám Gyurcsó all clearly represented experience.
The teams set a tremendous tempo in the opening quarter of an hour. The first few minutes clearly belonged to us, although these were more half-chances than clear-cut opportunities. Pauljevic came closest to scoring, but the Diósgyőr defenders recovered in time to block his shot.
In the 10th minute Gyurcsó played a fine ball to Pinte, who shot, but the ball came straight to Megyeri's feet and he gathered comfortably. In the 20th minute Gyurcsó drove a sharp ball across the face of goal, then Hangya 'scooped it back', but the Miskolc defenders eventually cleared. Five minutes later, following a free kick, Csontos chipped a ball into open space and put Medgyes in an excellent position, but his shot was blocked at the last moment.
In the 39th minute we threatened again from a set piece, with Csontos's corner finding Baki. Our defender tried to direct the ball towards goal, but the visiting defence got to this attempt as well.
Diósgyőr's first chance that looked genuinely dangerous came in the 42nd minute, when Sajbán carried the ball down the left, but Csontos managed the situation well and Dúzs did not have to overexert himself to make the save. In the 64th minute we produced a wonderful attack: Szamosi played a perfectly weighted ball to Hangya overlapping on the left, who aimed for the near bottom corner, but Megyeri made an excellent save. Pinte collected the rebound and crossed, after which the ball came back to Szamosi. Our young midfielder switched play to the other side, where Gyurcsó Ádám made no mistake and brilliantly found the far corner (1–0). The referee added six minutes, but the final action of the match was a long-range Kállai shot. With the victory we reached the last four of the Hungarian Cup, something we last achieved in 2020, when we won the competition. Interestingly, Ádám Gyurcsó was the Hungarian Cup's top scorer that season.
Our team are expected to play on April 22, with Zalaegerszeg as the opponent.
MOL HUNGARIAN CUP, 2025/26, QUARTER-FINAL
BUDAPEST HONVÉD FC–Diósgyőri VTK 1–0 (0–0)
Bozsik Aréna, 3,934 spectators. Referee: Bence Csonka (Norbert Bornemissza, József Aradi).
HONVÉD: Dúzs –Szabó A., Baki, Csontos – Pauljevic (Csonka, 79.), Pekár (Kállai, 69.), Szamosi, Hangya – Gyurcsó (Kántor, 79.), Pinte, Medgyes (Zuigeber, 69.). Head coach: Feczkó Tamás
DVTK: Megyeri – Szakos, Tamás, Bárdos, Bokros – Holdampf (Bényei, 83.), Roguljic (Babos B., 75.), Keita (Esiti, 69.) – Sajbán (Ambrose, 75.), Pető (Varga Z., 69.) – Colley. Head coach: Vladimir Radenkovic
Goal: Gyurcsó (64.)
Tamás Feczkó:
As we expected, it was a very difficult match because both teams wanted to progress in the cup. At home there was no other option than to win this match with the backing of our supporters. That is how we started, because within the first 15 minutes we had already managed to break through the opposition's defence three times. From the middle of the first half, the visitors' long throw-ins pushed the game a little into our half. That was somewhat frustrating, but after the break we came out the same way we had started the first half: we wanted to decide the match as quickly as possible. I am very happy that we matched our first-division opponents in footballing terms. We were able to surpass them not only in willpower but in our play too. I am proud of my team; whoever comes onto the pitch is able to contribute.
Vladimir Radenkovic:
First of all, congratulations to the opposition, to my colleague and to the Honvéd team. Today we did not produce what we wanted at all. I have to say that we were barely able to carry out anything we had planned. Honvéd played much more intelligently than us, they were better in the duels and collected the second balls better, of which there were plenty because both teams pressed quite intensely. There were many one-on-one duels and long balls, which produced a lot of second balls. In such situations, it usually comes down to who can make fewer mistakes and who can remain focused throughout the entire match. With today's defeat we have been knocked out of the cup, which is an extremely negative result for us. We had a bad day, even though we knew how important this competition is for the club and for posterity. I have to say we simply did not have enough energy today.
