After our 35-time Hungarian men's football champions clinched a third consecutive European Cup in the spring with a 4-3 win over AZ Alkmaar, our team took to the pitch on Sunday evening 2 February for their first league match of 2025. The opponent was MTK Budapest at the Groupama Arena.

After two international matches, Robbie Keane made his debut in the league and gave his confidence to the starting line-up of Varga Á. - Makreckis, Cissé, Gartenmann, Ramírez - Rommens, Abu Fani - Zachariassen, Ben Romdhane, Kehinde - Saldanha. The starting whistle was blown with us in second place, MTK fourth in the table. Before kick-off, Barnabás Varga received the HSA Player of the Month award.

First half

We started well, Saldanha was in position in the first minute, and three minutes later MTK's attempt was danger-free. In the 8th minute, Ramírez's shot was cleared, Kehinde was on target but Demjén saved. Ben Romdhane also changed the rhythm and Abu Fani's corner was curled towards goal, but Demjén pulled the ball down. In the 31st minute, Abu Fani tried to score from distance, but the goalkeeper was in position. After the corner, Saldanha shot with a scissor move but the ball went wide. We continued to dominate in the second half of the first half, but we failed to create any serious chances and went into the break with no goals.

Second half

Neither team made any changes for the restart. In the 51st minute, Ádám Varga pulled the ball down at the end of a counter-attack, then Kehinde was tackled inside the penalty area after his solo run, and a minute later his cross was cleared by the goalkeeper. Abu Fani curled in a free-kick from the right, Ben Romdhane headed into the middle, but Saldanha's header was not good enough. In the 57th minute, we had a free kick from the left, Abu Fani was looking for Saldanha but Demjén saved. At this point Robbie Keane made two changes, Saldanha was replaced by Varga Barnabás and Zachariassen by Traoré. MTK responded with two substitutions, and after Jurina's header, Ádám Varga confidently saved. In the 64th minute, Abu Fani crossed to Varga Barnabas inside the penalty area and our striker rose but slid his header wide. Immediately afterwards, we had a promising free-kick from opposite the goal, but Abu Fani curled over. 

Then, Bognár shot wide but missed the target. We were nearing the end of the 70th minute when Ben Romdhane played in a low cross, but Demjén collected the ball. Again we made two changes, with Tóth Alex and debutant Lenny Joseph replacing Abu Fani and Kehinde. The two substitutes immediately created an opportunity, after Tóth's accurate cross Joseph shot from a goal kick but missed. Pesics also came on in the 83rd minute, with Ben Romdhane coming off. In the remaining minutes, although we had a lot of pace, we failed to create any scoring chances and the final score remained 0-0.

Our team will next make up for the postponed 5th round match at ZTE on Wednesday, February 5, and then visit Puskás Academy on Sunday, February 9.