DVSC as last year’s bronze medallist hosted Ferencváros, the title defender, at Nagyerdei Stadium on Saturday in an unforgettable atmosphere and in front of a lot of fans. Unfortunately, Erik Kusnyir, who suffered a serious injury at Újpest, was out of the squad. In support of him, our team marched onto the pitch amidst the loud cheers of the fans wearing T-shirts with the slogan “We’re waiting for your return, Erik”. Among the starting eleven were Nimród Baranyai, Dusan Lagator and Brandon Domingues, who scored a brace in the previous round.

Loki took the lead in the 1^st minute of the match! After Brandon Domingues’ and Donát Bárány’s action, Christian Manrique took the ball and shot from 16 meters, it bounced and found its way into the net (1-0). It was a great start, however, FTC equalized in the 10^th minute: after a left-sided cross, Barnabás Varga headed the ball into the left corner from 9 meters (1-1).

Later on, there was a big fight on the pitch, the match was really exciting but there were some mistakes as well. Our team was really determined but tried to play in a disciplined way. In the 34^th minute, Balázs Megyeri made a brilliant save to deny Varga’s one-on-one opportunity, then in the 37^th minute, Dibusz saved Donát Bárány’s shot. The score stayed the same until the break.

At the beginning of the second half, Donát Bárány scored wide off the goal from 15 meters, then Balázs Megyeri made a huge save to deny Wingo’s shot. The match was still tense, with lots of duels but the play was balanced. In the 63^rd minute, our goalkeeper saved Marquinhos’ curl, so obviously, Ferencváros made a lot of efforts in order to score. Thirty minutes before the end, Joao Oliveira came on as a substitute (Thor Úlfarsson, Tamás Batai and Soma Szuhodovszki also came on for the endgame). In the 70^th minute, Christian Manrique had a chance but Dibusz saved his shot.

At the beginning of the final minutes, FTC gained an advantage. In the 74^th minute, Zachariassen headed the ball into the right corner of the goal from close-range (1-2). Loki did everything to equalize but Dibusz saved János Ferenczi’s powerful shot in the 77^th minute. DVSC led several attacks during the endgame (our team was close to scoring) but we could not equalize.

According to the coach

Srdjan Blagojevic: I’m proud and sad at the same time. I’m satisfied because of the way my team was fighting but we were not able to earn a point. We don’t have a lot of opportunities to play with teams that perform on the international stage as well but these kinds of games help us to improve. FTC also had to fight and we were close to score our second goal. It was a very good match.

Dejan Stankovic: Debrecen is a very good team, well organized and motivated. Both teams put a lot of energy into this game, it was an absolutely international-level match. It is an important success for us.

OTP Bank Liga, round 20.

DVSC-FTC 1-2 (1-1).

Nagyerdei Stadium, 12 114 spectators. Referee: Berke B.

DVSC: Megyeri – Baranyai, Dreskovic, Pellumbi, Ferenczi – Lagator, Manrique (Szuhodovszki, 85.) – Szécsi (Joao Oliveira, 66.), Dzsudzsák, Domingues (Thor, 78.) – Bárány (Batai, 85.). Head coach: Srdjan Blagojevic.

FTC: Dibusz – Makreckis (Wingo, 46.), Cisse, S. Mmaee, Ramirez – Maiga – Zachariassen, Marquinhos (Besic, 82.), Loncar (Kodro, 72.), Abu Fani (Botka, 82.) – Varga B. Head coach: Dejan Stankovic.

Goal: Manrique (1.) as well as Varga B. (10.), Zachariassen (74.).

Yellow card: Domingues (57.), Dreskovic (95.) as well as Makreckis (35.).