Fradi celebrate birthday and title win with Újpest victory

Ferencváros celebrated their 120th birthday as well as their 30th league title against fierce rivals Újpest at the Groupama Aréna in front of 20,057 spectators on Saturday. Lacina Traoré, Branko Pauljević and Dániel Nagy all tested Dénes Dibusz early on before Roland Varga broke the deadlock with a fine 20-yard shot after being teed up by Davide Lanzafame’s clever back-heel. Újpest drew level in the 39th minute, Dženan Bureković’s corner being headed home by Nagy, the teams going in 1-1 at the break.

Fradi retook the lead five minutes into the second half, Davide Lanzafame stabbing home after a Varga shot broke off Filip Pajović. Varga (twice) and Isael then contrived to miss gilt-edged opportunities for Fradi, whilst at the other end Dibusz beat away a late Donát Zsótér effort as they stretched their home unbeaten run in the league to 36 matches.

Debrecen failed to take advantage of Újpest’s defeat as they fell to a 3-1 reverse at home to relegation-threatened Kisvárda, despite taking a 40th minute lead courtesy of a stunning Márk Szécsi strike. Gheorghe Grozav equalised from the spot in the 55th minute after János Ferenczi was adjudged to have fouled András Gosztonyi in the box, and the Romanian striker then put Kisvárda ahead in the 74th minute. Zoltán Horváth secured the points in injury-time as Kisvárda move up to 9th place on 35 points.

The Hajdú County side remain level with Újpest in 48 points, three ahead of Honvéd, who came from 2-0 down away to Puskás Akadémia to salvage a 2-2 draw. Zsolt Nagy had given the hosts a 9th minute lead with a deflected shot, and Josip Knežević bagged his 11th of the season with a 39th penalty to put Puskás two up. Filip Holender – now joint-top scorer with Lanzafame on 15 goals – got one back immediately, seizing upon a mistake from János Hegedüs to tuck past Lajos Hegedüs, and then Ivan Lovrić secured what could be a crucial point for Honvéd in the 59th, heading home a Toni Kukoč cross from the left.

Mezőkövesd are now safe from relegation, László Pekár scoring the only goal of the game away to MTK as the Budapest side slide closer to the drop. Diósgyőr kept their hopes of staying up no harm with a 2-1 victory over a depleted Vidi side, Hasani Florent blasting home the opener in the 5th minute. Stopira levelled for the visitors in the 50th minute, heading in a Szabolcs Huszti corner, but the Miskolc side took three vital points thanks to Dávid Márkvárt’s low drive in the 73rd.

Haladás, who appeared to be closing in on a fairy-tale escape in recent weeks, still have an uphill task after conceding a last-gasp goal direct from a Mohamed Remili corner in the 1-1 draw with Paks. With two matches remaining, the Szombathely side are bottom on 29 points, with Diósgyőr and MTK on 34, Kisvárda on 35, and Puskás Akadémia and Paks on 36.

Ferencváros 2-1 Újpest (HT: 1-1)
Goalscorers: FER: Varga R. (22’), Lanzafame (50’); ÚJP: Nagy D. (39’)
Ferencváros: Dibusz - Lovrencsics (Botka, 62’), Blažić, Dvali, Heister - Haratin, Gorriarán - Isael, Nguen (Leandro, 81’), Varga R. - Lanzafame (Böde, 78’)
Újpest: Pajović - Pauljević, Litauszki, Ristevski, Bureković - Rácz (Sanković, 84’), Onovo - Simon K. (Solomon, 90’), Zsótér, Nagy D. (Beridze, 69’) - Traoré

Debrecen 1-3 Kisvárda (1-0)
Goalscorers: DEB: Szécsi (40’); KIS: Grozav (55’ pen, 74’), Horváth Z. (95’)
Debrecen: Nagy S. - Kinyik (Kusnyír, 46’), Szatmári, Pávkovics, Ferenczi - Bódi, Csősz, Tőzsér, Haris (Varga K., 70.) - Szécsi, Takács T. (Zsóri, 46’)
Kisvárda: Felipe - Melnyik, Beriosz, Kravcsenko, Protic - Marcolini, Karaszjuk - Gosztonyi (Hugo Seco, 67’), Cukalasz, Grozav (Sassá, 83’) - Ilic (Horváth Z., 62’)

Puskás Akadémia 2-2 Honvéd (2-1)
Goalscorers: PUS: Nagy Zs (9’), Knezevic (39’, pen); HON: Holender (40’), Lovric (59’)
Puskás Akadémia: Hegedüs L. - Poór, Hegedűs J., Hadzsiev, Nagy Zs. - Szolnoki, Mioc - Sós (Radó 81’), Vega, Szakály P. (Kiss T. 63’) - Knežević
Honvéd: Gróf - Batik, Kamber, Lovrić - Heffler T., Nagy G., Bamba (Gazdag 46’), Ben-Hatira, Uzoma (Kukoč 46’) - Danilo (Tischler 85’), Holender

MTK 0-1 Mezőkövesd (0-0)
Goalscorer: Pekár (50’)
MTK Budapest: Horváth L. - Katona, Balogh B., Pintér, Szelin (Banahene, 31’) - Vogyicska (U. Diallo, 80’), Kanta - Lencse, Bognár I., Vass P. (Kulcsár, 62’) - Torghelle
Mezőkövesd: Szappanos - Farkas D., Pillár, Katanec, Eperjesi - Meszki - Vajda (Moutari, 62’), Bertus, Cseri (Koszta, 78’), Pekár (Szalai A., 89’) – Dražić

Diósgyőr 2-1 Vidi (1-0)
Goalscorers: DIÓ: Hasani (5’), Márkvárt (73’); VID: Stopira (50’)
Diósgyőri VTK: Antal - Polgár, Brković, Karan, Tamás M. - Sestakov (Bacsa, 45+1’), Márkvárt, Szabó B., Tajti (Juhar, 79’) - Hasani (Géringer, 91’), Prosser
MOL Vidi FC: Kovácsik - Nego, Stopira, Elek, Tamás K. - Kovács I., Nikolov (Berecz, 82.), Pátkai, Milanov (Huszti, 71.) - Hodžić (Šćepović), Futács

Haladás Paks 1-1 (0-0)
Goalscorers: HAL: Priskin (65’, pen); PAK: Remili (92’)
Haladás: Király - Habovda, Jagodics, Németh Mi., Mohl - Dausvili - Bamgboye, Golodjuk (Holdampf, 20’), Rui Pedro (Németh Má., 87’), Ivanov - Priskin (Ofosu, 67’)
Paks: Nagy G. - Kővári, Lenzsér, Fejes, Szabó J. - Windecker - Könyves, Papp, Kesztyűs, Bartha (Kecskés, 77’) - Simon A. (Remili, 76’)