Match Report: Defeat away at Újpest

OTP Bank Liga, 2023-2024, Autumn season, Round 1

29 July Saturday

Újpest FC

• ⚽ Matija 12'
• ⚽ Mack 42'

2-1

Szusza Ferenc Stadion Budapest

Fehérvár FC

• ⚽ Katona 47'

Újpest FC

Nicolic Dorde - Mack Luca, Kiss Tamás (Fehér Csanád 58'), Tamás Krisztián, Onovo Vincent, Ambrose Peter (Sasere Franklin 58'), Hall Tim, Antzoulas Georgios, Pauljevic Branko (Ganea Danut 89'), Csoboth Kevin, Matija Ljujic

Fehérvár FC

Kovács Dániel - Csongvai Áron, Kasper Larsen, Spandler Csaba, Zeke Márió (Berki Marcell 83') - Rúben Pinto (Katona Mátyás 46'), Tobias Christensen - Lirim Kastrati (Pető Milán 46'), Lyes Houri, Schön Szabolcs - Kenan Kodro

Match officials

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Karakó Ferenc

Kóbor Péter, Bornemissza Norbert, Erdős József, Kulcsár Katalin

Gallery Match summary Match details

On Saturday evening the OTP Bank League 2023/2024 season started for our team in Újpest. There was no shortage of former favourites in the Szusza Ferenc Stadion, with Nikola Mitrovic and Nemanja Nikolics among the fans watching the match, so they could see that Bartosz Grzelak did not change the starting eleven from the game against Trabzonspor and Gyirmót, i.e. Kovács D. - Csongvai, Larsen, Spandler, Zeke - Rúben Pinto, Christensen - Kastrati, Houri, Schön - Kodro started. The team captain's armband was on the arm of Kenan Kodro, who was replacing the injured Attila Fiola.

The match started in a very good atmosphere, with fans from the away section enthusiastically cheering on the team, who were wearing their new red and blue shirts. Pauljevic fired the first shot in the fourth minute, but the Serbian right-back was off target. Three minutes later, after a quick counter-attack, Csoboth played the ball to Tamás Kiss, who shot with a powerful left-foot shot, which was saved by Kovács. After two minutes, first Csongvai made a great tackle to deny our former player Csoboth, then Onovo's shot was saved by Dániel Kovács. But in the 12th minute our goalkeeper had no chance to save, Ljujic came all alone in the middle and shot the ball into the net from close range (1-0).

The game was 18 minutes old when Ljujic, the goalscorer, tried to score from a sharp angle, but Kovács got down to save low, and two minutes later the Serbian midfielder also threatened. Ljujic then played perhaps the best 15 minutes of his life, and in the 22nd minute he curled an 18-metre free-kick wide, but fortunately he was slightly off target. Ambrose also tried to shoot but it went wide in the 26th minute, but he was not accurate either. After half an hour of play, we could record the first Vidi chance: Kastrati had a good run on Antzoulas, and he flicked the ball past Nikolic, but the ball slipped wide of the goal. Shortly afterwards, Kevin Csoboth stamped on Larsen's foot, and Ferenc Karakó sent off the winger after a VAR review. Despite the man advantage, Luca Mack scored the second goal for Újpest (2-0) in the 42nd minute with a well-placed shot. The German also had a shot, at the end of the first half which he powered from 25 yards to the top right, and Schön missed a great chance in front of the goal, after Csongvai's cross.

At the break, Pinto and Kastrati were replaced by Milán Pető and Mátyás Katona. The latter proved to be a good substitute, as he scored a 23-metre goal at the beginning of the half (2-1). After the goal we tried to attack with great energy and assert our man advantage, but Újpest were understandably busy defending at this stage of the game. In the 58th minute, Schön shot into the side netting from a deflected angle. But in the 65th minute, after a cross from Csongvai, Kodro made a great movement to send the ball into the goal, but after a long video review, it was ruled out and a free kick for offside. In the 70th minute, Pauljevic missed a left-footed cross and a minute later Katona curled a shot wide of the home goal.

In the 82nd minute, another youngster came on after Milan Pető, Marcell Berki, born in 2004, made his debut in the NB I, replacing Mário Zeke. With four minutes left of normal time, Schön shot from the corner of the penalty area, Nikolic got down to the low ball. The fourth referee, József Erdős, was about to signal seven minutes of extra time when Onovo's close-range shot was saved really well by Kovács. At the other end, Katona's effort crashed across the face of goal and Kodro headed over. As it turned out, this was the last situation, Újpest won 2-1.