Some 3,000 kilometres from Budapest, in fantastic surroundings, but in fog and rain, and in weather that was 13 degrees Celsius, a much cooler temperature than at home, our 34-time champions prepared for their first match of the season. The first leg of the Champions League first qualifying round saw us playing against gold medallists KÍ Klaksvík from Faroe Islands. Our team bussed over from the islands' capital Tórshavn on Tuesday evening to the 4,600-capacity town, where the hosts were in good form as they lead the local Premier League with 16 wins from 16 games. The KÍ, which is valued at €2.7 million, is the smallest pitch in the country's top flight, 100 metres long, 64 metres wide and artificial turf. In addition to the weather, these conditions had to be adapted to. Head coach Stanislav Cherchesov has given several of the new signings a chance in the starting line-up:D ibusz – Botka, S. Mmaee, Cissé, Civic – Baráth, Esiti – Traoré, Zachariassen, Marquinhos – Varga B.

First half

Klaksvík started the game, but our team was the more dangerous in the first minutes. First Civic and then Traorá put the previous NB I season's top scorer, Barnabas Varga, in position, but the shot of our striker, who was transferred from Paks, was saved by the goalkeeper and his header missed. In the 12th minute, Civic rolled in from a free kick on the right, but Varga Barnabás again missed the target with his header. KÍ scared first from a corner, just as the opponents had said before the game that they were prepared for spot kicks. Traoré got a bad touch on the ball, which hit the side netting from outside the box. Klaksvík found the net soon after, with Forren's header being pushed away from under the bar by Dénes Dibusz. In the 23rd minute, we took the KÍ goal, Zachariassen crossed from the right, Traoré came from the long side and his header was saved in by goalkeeper Johansson. But the goal was rightly disallowed for a foul. In the 25th minute, the chants of "Go, Fradi!" from a handful of supporters could be heard for the first time. In the 33rd minute, Dibusz was again in a tight spot, but the ball was volleyed over the top by the Faroese striker. In the 34th minute, Zachariassen received a yellow card for a bodycheck. Before the break, the biggest chance of the match was missed, a dangerous header from the home side was saved by our crossbar.

Second half

Eldar Civic's long-range shot started the second half, but our Bosnian defender's bomb failed to find the target. Esiti got a taste of the attacks, and soon his effort from outside the 16 was saved by the goalkeeper and Samy Mmaee's shot flew out of the stadium. We started the second 45 minutes in a lively fashion. KÍ made the first substitution, Pavlovic was replaced by Danielsen. After a poorly paced cross in the 64th minute, Péter Baráth was shown a yellow card. A few minutes later, Cherchesov made some changes to his team, replacing Marquinhos and Traoré with Lisztes and Owusu, and Sigér came on for Esiti. At this point, it was mainly field play on the pitch, while the weather had eased a lot, with no rain and the mist rising from the neighbouring hilltops. In the 79th minute, Barnabás Varga, who has been more of a header in front of his own goal recently, was well on target with a cross from the right, but the ball was cleared out of his reach by the defenders at the last minute. With ten minutes to go Samy Mmaee headed wide from a corner. In the 84th minute, Lisztes broke in from the left wing and could only be fouled. Civic's free kick was headed just over by Barnabás Varga. With five minutes to go Samy Mmaee found Zachariassen with a good ball, but he took a long cross and the ball was cleared. In the 88th minute, a dangerous home attack was running down the left, a rebounded ball was pushed away from 5 metres by the Kiwi striker but Civic blocked with his head. The 5 minutes of extra time brought no goals as our team started the 2023-2024 season 0-0.

The return match is a week away, on Wednesday 19 July at 18:00 at the Groupama Arena.