Our 35-time Hungarian men's football champions hosted Kecskemét in the 2nd round of the OTP Bank Liga at the Groupama Arena before the second qualifying round match against Danish Midtjylland. This was our first encounter in the 2024/25 edition of the league, after our first round match was postponed. Against KTE, Pascal Jansen sent out the starting line-up of Dibusz - Makreckis, Raul Gustavo, Cissé, Ramírez - Rommens, Maiga - Traoré, Zachariassen, Owusu - Pesics. Before the kick-off, our club president Gábor Kubatov congratulated Barnabás Varga, who was voted Fradi Footballer of the Year by the fans, making him the ninth to receive the valuable bronze statue offered by Tibor Mladoniczky.

First half

The game started in a good atmosphere, but a bit cautious, in the first minutes we were twice in front of the visitors' goal, but no big chances were created. In the 16th minute Pesics crossed to Zachariassen, but Kersák intercepted the ball. After that, Pesics, Makreckis and Traoré combined, the latter curled in a shot but the goalkeeper got the ball.

In the 22nd minute, Traoré lead the ball towards the goal after a great clearance and confidently shot into the bottom left corner to give our team the lead (1-0)! In the 35th minute Owusu also aimed at the goal but missed. Three minutes later, Dibusz also intervened, Kovács' shot was easily saved by him. Later, Zachariassen and Rommens also tried, but the one-goal lead remained at the break.

Second half

We didn't make any change but Kecskemét made one substitution after the break. Lukács took an attempt in the 53rd minute, but couldn't find the net. In the 62nd minute we made three changes: Cisse was replaced by Botka, Maiga by Ben Romdhane and Traore, who scored, was replaced by Kady. Ferencváros had more possession, but there was no serious situation in front of the Kecskemét goal at this point of the match. Owusu also came off in the 73rd minute, replaced by Civic. In the 77th minute, Ben Romdhane brought Civic into the game, his shot from an acute angle was saved by Kersák with his foot. In the 81st minute Makreckis fired a shot from distance but it was blocked by the defenders.
Pascal Jansen also made a substitution in the 85th minute, Zachariassen was replaced by Abu Fani. Szabó headed onto the crossbar from a free kick and the ball left the field. In the 87th minute, Pesics' header from a Civic cross went narrowly wide and Ben Romdhane tried to increase the lead with a powerful shot. Pesics tried to head again from the resulting corner, but the ball went wide. Nearing the end of the game, Abu Fani also fired over following a clearance.

All in all, our team got the three points in their first league match of 2024/25 and are ready for the Champions League qualifier against Midtjylland!