After Spartak Moscow beat NK Maribor by two goals – thereby securing their place in the final – our age-group side faced Spanish club Elche on Friday. Just like the Russians, the Saturday programme was hugely important for our academy players: Tamás Szamosi's team would have guaranteed a place in the final with a win.
Elche created the first chance of the match: in the fifth minute Pablo Canizares aimed for the top-right corner, but his shot came back off the post. Not long afterwards Hunor Hajagos took a free-kick awarded to us, but visiting goalkeeper Sergio Parra blocked his centrally directed effort. In the 15th minute the Spanish side were only inches from taking the lead: Canizares tried again, but the ball rolled just wide of the left post. Late in the half Alejandro de Juan found himself in a promising position after a pass from Canizares, but our goalkeeper Milán Petró intervened well and saved at full stretch. Soon afterwards Roland Józsa shot towards the centre of goal, but Sergio Parra managed to punch the ball clear. Although our academy players escaped the pressure after the break and tried to create chances, the visitors eventually scored the opening goal: seven minutes before the end of normal time substitute Martínez blasted into the bottom-right corner (0–1).
Tamás Szamosi, head coach: “In the second half Elche gave us more space, so we managed to play our way out of pressure on several occasions. If we had been a little fresher and our first touches had been better, we could have created more chances. The goal we conceded was already a consequence of the boys becoming tired both physically and mentally, which is not surprising because they worked extremely hard in this match too."
Honvéd: Petró, Török (Józsa 19.), Nyiri, Schill (Bolyki 48.), Menyhárt (Varga 31.), Vass (Pisont 31.), Hajagos (Magyar 52.), Szabó (Palásti 52.), Szijjártó, Malomsoki (Balázs 48.), Gerebenes
Elche: Parra, Verdú, Sempere (Picó 45.), Canizares (Gálvez 38.), Munoz (Martínez 38.), Terol (Irles 31.), Vasquez, Valero (Parra 31.), Martinez (Barceló 48.), De Juan (Serneguet 31.), Clemente
Goal: Martínez (52.)
The placement matches will be held at the Bozsik Arena on Sunday.
For 5th place:
Paris Saint-Germain–NK Maribor
Third-place match:
Budapest Honvéd FC–Atalanta
Final:
Elche–FC Spartak Moscow
