Our U15 side faced no easy task on the closing day of the 9th Honvéd Cup, playing Atalanta for the bronze medal on Sunday. The Italians missed out on the final only because of the penalties taken after every match: they finished level at the top of the other group with Spartak Moscow, who had also beaten Maribor 2–0, while the Italians and Russians drew with each other. Tamás Szamosi's team shared the points with Paris Saint-Germain and suffered only a narrow one-goal defeat against finalists Elche.
The intensity of the match was extremely high for this age group, but the Italians converted the first major chance of the opening half. In the 20th minute Damioli won the ball and played it to his team-mate, the in-form Manilo Carone, who smashed a first-time shot into the roof of the net (0–1).
In the second half we launched several dangerous counter-attacks, and even when we did not, most of the play took place in the Italian half. We came close to equalising on several occasions, the best opportunity falling to Palásti, who met Hajagos's cross with a header in the 56th minute, but Andrea Magoni produced a superb save. In the 64th minute the Italians punished us: Merelli – with arguably the finest goal of the tournament – blasted the ball into the right side of the net from 25 metres (0–2). That visibly knocked our team, and late on we were unable to clear a cross from in front of goal; substitute Luca Bosatelli placed the loose ball into the right corner (3–0). We therefore finished fourth in the tournament, ahead of Paris Saint-Germain and NK Maribor. Atalanta claimed third place unbeaten.
HONVÉD CUP, 2025/26, Third-place match
Budapest Honvéd FC–Atalanta BC 0–3 (0–1)
Bozsik Arena, 100 spectators. Referee: Barnabás Drabon (Kevin Linn, Kristóf Patrik Bán).
HONVÉD: Szabó A. (Komzsik, 68.) – Szijjártó, Szabó D. (Palásti, – at half-time), Nyiri, Varga B. (Balázs P., – at half-time) – Schill (Menyhárt, – at half-time), Hajagos – Vass A. (Pisont, – at half-time), Gerebenes (Bolyki, – at half-time), Józsa – Malomsoki (Magyar A., 59.). Head coach: Tamás Szamosi
Atalanta: Magoni (Ghezzi, 65.) – Danza, Zanotti, Dos Santos (Turla, 65.), Ferrararesso – Damioli, Merelli, Giachetti (Morandin, 57.) – Montalbano (Magrin, 71.), Carone (Giustacchini Ribeiro, – at half-time), Bellei (Prendi, 57.). Head coach: Alfonso Esposito
Goals: Carone (19.), Merelli (64.) Bosatelli (80.).
