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As they did in their previous match against AC Milan, Honvéd again raced into the lead within five minutes, Panathinaikos goalkeeper Georgios Kollias bringing down Bálint Vécsei on the right side of the penalty area and Valér Kapacina dispatching the resultant penalty ow into the right corner of the net. This put Kapacina on four goals for the tournament and secured his position as top goalscorer at this year's competition.

On 16 minutes Gerjén Ablonczy went close to extending the Hungarian side's lead but his flicked header from 12 metres out was turned over the crossbar by an alert Kollias. The onslaught continued as Vécsei's low, 20 metre snapshot was well collected by Kollias to his left and János Fejes saw his header fly over the bar. Panathinaikos barely saw a glimpse of Honvéd's goal in the first half, although Konstantinos Apostopoulos should have done better with a free-kick in the left channel which he curled disappointly wide of the near left post.

The incessant rain and wind had made the pitch a veritable mudbath so it was difficult for either side to play their natural games but there was no doubt Honvéd were adapting best to the midfield battle the game had descended into. Despite Károly Varga's team's overall dominance it was Panathinaikos who ended the first half on the attack, a long, deep free-kick causing consternation in the Honvéd defence but substitute Adamantios Chouchoumis, on for Spyridon Fourlanos, saw his shot blocked and the danger was averted.

Worsening weather conditions meant the amount of passes falling short and tackles flying were high with flowing football at a real premium. The wings looked in the best condition of anywhere on the pitch and therefore the best area to attack in but strangly neither team elected to focus their efforts there. Instead, perhaps due to tiredness, the game remained firmly in the central channel which suited Honvéd perfectly since it was their opponents needing to score to stay in the game.

In the 58th minute Chouchoumis' right-wing, inswinging free-kick was well-cleared by Fejes as a stoic Honvéd defence continued to hold firm. It was hard to see how Panathinaikos could possibly conjure up an equaliser. It seemed a set-piece would be their best chance and the opening came in the 68th minute when Apostopoulos' right-wing corner arrived at Konstantinos Triantafyllopoulos unmarked on the penalty spot but he could not direct his header on target.

The frustration was palpable for Panathinaikos both on and off the pitch, no more so than with head coach Juan Roman Rocha who was dismissed from the side of the pitch for the second time this tournament. His mood must have worsened considerably a minute later when Honvéd took a two-goal lead, Gergo Nagy swinging in a left-wing free-kick for Erdélyi to steal in unmarked on the five-metre line to head past Kollias and secure Honvéd's maiden PUSKÁS-SUZUKI CUP triumph at their third attempt.

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