Puskás Akadémia delivered an outstanding performance, securing a 3–3 draw away at Fiorentina, who were finalists in the last two seasons, in the first leg of the Conference League qualifying round on Thursday.
Fiorentina coach Raffaele Palladino made eight changes to the starting eleven from the opening round of Serie A last weekend. Among the changes was 45-time Spain international goalkeeper David de Gea, who spent 12 years at Manchester United. De Gea returned to action after spending an entire season and 446 days on the sidelines.
The Hungarian team started bravely and brilliantly, with captain Zsolt Nagy scoring the first goal from a penalty in the 9th minute. Just three minutes later, Soisalo doubled the lead with a swift counterattack.
Fiorentina increased the tempo after going two goals down. Beltrán and Bianco’s powerful shot off the crossbar provided a stroke of luck for the visitors, but later in the first half, Sottil scored from a beautiful cross, changing the score to 1–2.
At the break, Palladino made two changes to his team, while Zsolt Hornyák made one. After the kick-off, Fiorentina immediately put Puskás Akadémia under pressure. Their dominance paid off, resulting in an equalizer in the 67th minute through a header from Martínez Quarta, and eight minutes later, Kean’s shot gave the home team the lead.
As Puskás Akadémia’s players began to tire, Hornyák placed his confidence in several substitutes. The Hungarian side shook off their fatigue in the second half and equalized through Golla’s header from a corner,
leaving them in a promising position for next week’s return leg.
Despite the valiant effort, Puskás Akadémia coach Zsolt Hornyák was not entirely satisfied with the outcome. ‘I have a feeling of dissatisfaction because if a team doesn’t win after leading 2–0, a coach can’t be very satisfied. But when I consider who we drew against, I should be content, yet I’m not. We sensed that Fiorentina underestimated us a bit, as we are a relatively new club on the European stage. We wanted to take advantage of that,’ Hornyák said after the match. ‘I have a lot of respect for our opponents, and I didn’t expect to feel a lack of confidence after the game, but I did because I was confident of a win after leading 2–0,’ he added.
The return leg will kick off at 21:00 on 29 August at the Pancho Arena in Felcsút, with the winner advancing to the main draw of the competition.
Another Hungarian team, the cup winners Paks, also took to the pitch yesterday, securing a 2–2 draw against Mladá Boleslav from the Czech Republic.
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