Our team faced a difficult task in Round 7 of the OTP Bank Liga as we travelled to defending champions ETO FC Győr. Both sides underwent major changes during the summer and went into Sunday evening's game in the same position in terms of dropped points. Compared with our victory over ZTE FC, head coach Maurizio Jacobacci made just one change: our Moroccan player Reda Eddarraj came in for Tamás Somogyi. We also returned to the four-man defensive set-up we have used many times before. Efraín Juárez, meanwhile, made three changes to the side that started against Ferencváros, bringing in Umathum, Bennette and Kulenovic. Juárez also changed formation, moving from the five-man defence used against Fradi to a 4–3–2–1. The crowd of more than 5,000 – including nearly 800 Kispest supporters who backed the team from start to finish – created a superb atmosphere at ETO Stadion.
Győr tried to play balls in behind the defensive line, while we generally set up to counter. One such move caused our defence problems in the 11th minute, after which Agba shot but failed to make clean contact. After the opening quarter of an hour, our team began to take the initiative. In the 14th minute Somogyi cut the ball back to Csontos, who did not hesitate and took aim at Petrás's goal, but his effort flew over the crossbar. In the 18th minute Somogyi again fought for the ball and laid it off to Alic, who collected it a long way from goal and tested Petrás from distance, but the Slovak goalkeeper made a fine save. In the 28th minute Kulenovic headed Stefulj's cross, but Hadzikic was well positioned and gathered comfortably. After half an hour Szamosi switched play to Zuigeber, who beat his defender and aimed for the bottom-left corner, but Győr managed to block at the last moment. After a Csontos corner, the home defence failed to deal with the ball and, following the scramble, Eddarraj came very close to his first Honvéd goal, but the ball went just centimetres wide of the right post. In the 36th minute Kispest's fighting spirit was on display: first Hangya and then Somogyi battled for possession, before Petrás produced a brilliant save to keep out Csontos's long-range effort heading for the top-left corner and preserve the goalless score. In the 39th minute Boldor lofted the ball onto Somogyi's foot; after one bounce our young midfielder tried to place it into the right corner, but Petrás again got across with a superb stop. In the 51st minute we produced a beautiful move, ending with Hangya cutting the ball back to Csontos, whose shot towards the right corner was again confidently saved by Petrás. A minute later Agba tried his luck from distance, but his effort caused Hadzikic no trouble. One minute after that, Alic headed a superb Hangya cross, only for the Győr defence to block. Just over an hour into the game Ádám Somogyi again shot from distance; Petrás could only parry, but kept it out. Five minutes later Stefulj received the ball and, from around twenty metres, fired a tremendous strike into the left corner (1–0) – although he appeared to have started from an offside position, the goal stood after the VAR review. The hosts' lead lasted only five minutes, however. After a solo run by Eddarraj, Petrás – until then the best player on the pitch – was uncertain, and the ball eventually bounced into the right corner (1–1), giving our new signing his first Honvéd goal. The closing stages then produced extraordinary drama: the hosts won a free kick in the first minute of stoppage time and Huszár's shot deflected off Urblík's back and into Hadzikic's goal (2–1). Jacobacci made a change, Pekár replacing Alic, and moments later Stefulj hesitated in front of his own goal. Kántor fought for the ball, which ricocheted to Pekár , and our academy-trained midfielder ruthlessly fired into the bottom-right corner with his first touch (2–2). Sadly, even that was not enough for a point. The cruel blow came in the 98th minute, when Győr were awarded a penalty in highly controversial circumstances. Hadzikic once again guessed the direction, but Miljan Krpic struck into the right side of the net to secure all three points for the hosts (3–2). We travel to Baja next Saturday in the third round of the Hungarian Cup, while our next OTP Bank Liga match will be away in Felcsút from 19:30 on September 18.
OTP BANK LIGA, ROUND 7, 2026-27
ETO FC Győr–KISPEST–HONVÉD FC–ZTE FC 3–2 (0–0)
Győr, ETO Stadion, 5,456 spectators. Referee: Balázs Katona (Norbert Bornemissza, Péter Ország).
ETO: Petrás – Umathum (Bánáti, 86.), Urblík, Krpic, Stefulj – Szép (Bödő, 86.), Agba, Djukanovic (Rotaru, 78.) – Bennette (Selyem, 78.), Njie (Huszár, 60.) – Kulenovic. Head coach: Efraín Juárez
HONVÉD: Hadzikic – Kállai (Kántor, 83.), Baki, Boldor, Hangya – Csontos, Somogyi Á. – Szamosi (Somogyi T., 61.), Eddarraj (Safronov, 83.), Zuigeber (Pinte, 61.) – Alic (Pekár, 90+2). Head coach: Maurizio Jacobacci
G: Stefulj (69.), Urblík (90+1.), Krpic (90+8. – penalty), and Eddarraj (70.), Pekár (90+3.).
Maurizio Jacobacci:
The match did not start well for us. In the first fifteen minutes Győr had more possession and passed the ball more accurately than we did. After that, though, we grew into the game. On several occasions we caused our opponents problems and gave them less space. We knew that if we started the second half at a good tempo, the match could swing in our favour. We lost possession a few times in the second half and conceded a goal after one of those situations. We made changes and Reda scored a great goal after an excellent individual move. We changed our system, but after losing the ball in midfield they won a free kick and scored a fortunate goal. Pekár scored immediately after coming on. For the goal that decided the match, our defender could have let the ball run out but did not, and that proved costly. We are very disappointed. I do not think the defending champions were better than us; the team that deserved to win left the pitch as the losing side. We have to draw strength from our performance and use it to get back on our feet. The boys left everything out on the pitch. We played with enormous heart. It is extremely frustrating to lose like this.
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