Honvéd, coached by László Szalai, actually took a 10th minute lead when Vólent received the ball 25 metres from goal, jinked past Sergio Parla Garcia in the Madrid central defence and toe-poked the ball past Ricardo Alonso Garcia in the Madrid goal.
However, the visitors from Spain began to recover from their slow start and after one or two close misses they equalised on the half-hour mark through striker Alvaro Morata Martin when he was found free in the penalty area by Real left-back Tomás Giron Guiterrez. Seconds later Bálint Vécsei could have restored Honvéd’s lead but Ricardo Garcia blocked his shot when clean through.
This was a mere respite in terms of goals though and once the teams emerged from the break the score almost immediately changed, this time Real being the ones to take the initiative through Martin’s second of the game. Honvéd hit back straightaway though, Krisztián Nagy releasing Vólent who calmly slotted under the Real goalkeeper to level the scores.
Incredibly the second period was only six minutes old when the third goal of the half arrived, Martin heading in Jaime Sansegundo Garcia’s right-wing cross to complete a 16-minute hat-trick. Honvéd were on the ropes at this point and team captain Botond Baráth had to rescue his side by clearing Sergio Gonzalez Poirrier’s shot off the line seconds before Martin’s acrobatic volley only just flew wide of Dániel Vereckei’s left post.
To their credit though the Hungarian team that Ferenc Puskás is most synonymous with did not buckle and fought their way back into the game. On 56 minutes Vólent proved his striking ability once again by sliding the ball past Ricardo Garcia and into the net to level the scores once more at 3-3.
Suddenly it was Honvéd in the ascendancy and twice more the dangerous Vólent would break free and beat the keeper with shots, only for defenders to twice deny him by clearing off the line. By this time Vernes had entered the fray and his first effort at goal was by no means a bad one, his audacious shot from the halfway line only just failing to embarrass the Real custodian.
Vernes’s next chance did not arrive until seconds before the end and when it did he had only himself to thank, the youngster bursting into the area and shooting against the keeper before slotting in the rebound to send the Honvéd delegation into wild celebrations. The final whistle of a truly remarkable match was blown soon after to leave Honvéd sitting proudly atop of Group B with three points. Sadly for Vernes he was booked for a second time in the match for his celebrations and will now miss Honvéd’s final group match against Panathinaikos tomorrow.
In the penalty shootout afterwards that takes place to decide possible ties after the completion of the group stages, 11 players scored their penalties but the 12th penalty by Gyula Lengyel was saved meaning that Real Madrid won 6-5.
However, the visitors from Spain began to recover from their slow start and after one or two close misses they equalised on the half-hour mark through striker Alvaro Morata Martin when he was found free in the penalty area by Real left-back Tomás Giron Guiterrez. Seconds later Bálint Vécsei could have restored Honvéd’s lead but Ricardo Garcia blocked his shot when clean through.
This was a mere respite in terms of goals though and once the teams emerged from the break the score almost immediately changed, this time Real being the ones to take the initiative through Martin’s second of the game. Honvéd hit back straightaway though, Krisztián Nagy releasing Vólent who calmly slotted under the Real goalkeeper to level the scores.
Incredibly the second period was only six minutes old when the third goal of the half arrived, Martin heading in Jaime Sansegundo Garcia’s right-wing cross to complete a 16-minute hat-trick. Honvéd were on the ropes at this point and team captain Botond Baráth had to rescue his side by clearing Sergio Gonzalez Poirrier’s shot off the line seconds before Martin’s acrobatic volley only just flew wide of Dániel Vereckei’s left post.
To their credit though the Hungarian team that Ferenc Puskás is most synonymous with did not buckle and fought their way back into the game. On 56 minutes Vólent proved his striking ability once again by sliding the ball past Ricardo Garcia and into the net to level the scores once more at 3-3.
Suddenly it was Honvéd in the ascendancy and twice more the dangerous Vólent would break free and beat the keeper with shots, only for defenders to twice deny him by clearing off the line. By this time Vernes had entered the fray and his first effort at goal was by no means a bad one, his audacious shot from the halfway line only just failing to embarrass the Real custodian.
Vernes’s next chance did not arrive until seconds before the end and when it did he had only himself to thank, the youngster bursting into the area and shooting against the keeper before slotting in the rebound to send the Honvéd delegation into wild celebrations. The final whistle of a truly remarkable match was blown soon after to leave Honvéd sitting proudly atop of Group B with three points. Sadly for Vernes he was booked for a second time in the match for his celebrations and will now miss Honvéd’s final group match against Panathinaikos tomorrow.
In the penalty shootout afterwards that takes place to decide possible ties after the completion of the group stages, 11 players scored their penalties but the 12th penalty by Gyula Lengyel was saved meaning that Real Madrid won 6-5.
