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In the history of football, the Hungarian victory in the main table of the Champions League has been achieved in only one match so far. Ferencváros’ three-goal victory against the Grasshoppers became a legend at the time of the blowout, and this status has not changed since. All that happened was that 25 years had passed. There is a very subjective memory.
At the hotel in the center of Zurich, the elegant doorman was looking at what a skin-soaked young man was looking for that Wednesday afternoon. Not what, but who. Zoltán Novotny is the head of the radio sports department. Room 614, the receptionist grunted not very convincingly, who in front of her – I’m sure – phoned Novotny telling her that her guest had arrived, asked her if she knew me. If the legendary radio says no …
The elevator slowly went up to the sixth, the door opened, Novotny stood in front of me, his shirt and tie were already on. Because he also broadcast this match with a suit tie, although he covered everything with a raincoat.
“Are you here, Lantoskam?”
“I’m Uncle Zoli here”
“Then sit on that couch, we’ll leave right away.”
I looked at my watch, it was 5.15pm, the Grashoppers-Fradi Champions League match started at 8.30pm. So he was not restless. Half an hour later, I asked Novotny.
“Shouldn’t you go more, Uncle Zoli?”
“Where?”
“To the stadium.”
“Look. We’ll be heading out of this room to the elevator in a minute. Let’s call the elevator, wait up to two minutes. Until it comes down, another minute. The tram stop is one minute from the hotel. If the tram passes in front of our heck, the next one will be here in six minutes. With that you have to make 4 stops, the travel time is 5 minutes. After landing 4 minutes walk to the stadium. So how much is that?
“20 minutes if nothing works out.”
“That’s right” Now it’s three-quarters of six. If we started now, we would be on the field five minutes after six. Why? So calm down, don’t retire to go. “ so Novotny, who meanwhile folded his vest.
I didn’t even dare to work. Around seven thirty, the voice finally spoke.
“We can go, Lantoskám.”
Needless to say, we were out in twenty minutes, the tram had gone right under our noses, the rain was still ragged, Novotny told me about Switzerland in the vehicle, but did not dare to guess what it would bring tonight.
Now I just have to tell you how I came to this now historic match at the age of 23, at the end of which Jenő Knézy said on TV that when we become grandparents, we will still remember Ferencváros’s great victory.
Soccer Champions League, 1995-96.
Group D, Round 1: Grasshoppers-Ferencváros 0-3 (0-0)
Zurich, Hardturm Stadium, 16 thousand spectators. Directed by Pedersen (Norwegian)
Grasshoppers: Zuberbühler – Vogel, Vega, Gren, Thüler (From Napoli) – Koller, Geiger – Lombardo, Yakin, Comisetti (Ibrahim) – Magnin (Viscaal)
Ferencváros: Hajdu – Earth – Szucs – Sagittarius, Lisztes, Milovanovics, Simon Vincze – Kopunovics – Zavadszky (Alto), fatua
Goal: Lisztes (61.), Vincze O. (81., 91.)
At the age of 23, as an external employee of Hungarian Radio, the company had no chance to travel anywhere with the company’s money. When it turned out that I was playing a UEFA Cup match in Újpest Strasbourg on September 12, the next day and Fradi BL at the Hardturm Stadium in Zurich, I stood in front of Novotny to go out to both matches only to be able to finish after the parties. the interviews. Novotny shrugged, I can drop her if the class costs nothing. I started like this on September 10, 1995 with a “car” (Fiat Uno before the flood), the Budapest-Strasbourg highway went quickly, because I loaded the car with all kinds of cassettes. night under your bed at the hotel. He made me feel like I would sit next to him during the match, and if he didn’t recognize the scorers for some fatal coincidence, I would show him who he was. Since Dani never recognized almost anyone, I did my duty, in exchange for receiving a live history lesson about the city’s past on the Franco-German border during the broadcast, together with the students. The French team won 3-0, and hardly anyone is reluctant to comment after the match. Dani appreciated the help, invited me to a dinner of onion, sausage and bacon brought from home. We bought bread from the bakery opposite the hotel, then I learned what a Boulangerie is.
On the 13th of September I arrived in Zurich by car through the beautiful Alsace countryside. I left the car in the large parking lot next to the train station, from where I left for the hotel in Novotny. I have already described the sequel.
Grasshoppers-Fradi was 0-0 at halftime. The radio only broadcast the second half. During the break, Novotny showed that Joseph Blatter, the then FIFA general secretary, was sitting in the row below us.
“I’ll go see him and do an interview with him” – I also.
Novotny’s eyes didn’t blink, the tape recorder was already spinning, so I approached the already prestigious sports diplomat, who for some reason couldn’t resist. During the 6 minute conversation, Fradi, the lost 1954 World Cup final and much more was discussed. When I thanked the interview and went back up to the radio station, I heard Novotny say to Budapest: “Children, Lantos did a material with Joseph Blatter. I think you’ll have a place for him on Saturday’s magazine show. “
He was full of pride. Then I felt that they were taken seriously.
There were a few more minutes from the break before starting a spell that he had never seen before me on that cold and rainy night.
Minute 61, 0-1: “Krisztián Lisztes scored the first goal of the Hungarian teams in the history of the sport in BL. “Inside, the people” Lead Ferencváros! “
81st minute, 0-2: “Otto Vincze still, good trick, góóóóóóóóóó. Otto Vincze seemed to have been replaced in the second half, and I hope this is his rebirth. “
Minute 90, 0-3: “Otto Vincze is coming, he’s down, he can’t be knocked down, that’s the trick. Hoho, hoho, hoho. Well please, the Hungarian truth is three and this guy became a great player tonight. “
I hope Novotny now forgives me for writing Jenő Knézy’s words here. The reason is simple. Tv streaming is still available to anyone sharing videos after 25 years. Radio? Somewhere, someone definitely has it.
I remember more and more: Novotny was just happy “quietly” on the first goal, screaming like a jackal on the third. After the hit, he looked at me and said, “Well, little one. Go get a report.”
Everything was in that sentence. It was as if fate had given me the chance of a lifetime. After such a victory, you cannot ask for wrong or wrong. I ran to the locker room in the pouring rain; yes, in 1995, after a BL game, I was even able to get there. Almost annoying my TV colleague, László Zsiray, in a black suit, and then the players came, the coach, Dezső Novák, the tape recorder was spinning, I didn’t have to ask much during the happy words. I had a good time, well. Lisztes, Ottó Vincze, Zsolt Nagy and Tibor Simon also spoke. When I was done with everything, I ran back to Novotny to replay the interviews completed in Budapest. I was already home when my colleagues told me that the 15 minutes of Sports Morning the next day included only the interviews I did.
Despite the 3-0 win, I didn’t dare ask Novotny if I could sleep under his bed. Anyway, some of the fellow journalists (the young people) – led by Imre Mátyás – said that they know a place in the city that is open until 5 in the morning. In the pouring rain we stood next to the bus Fradi, in Knézy’s old black raincoat, Novotny in his wool suit and Swiss cap, Uncle Oroszhegyi Karcsi from National Sports and who knows how many more. We were waiting for the players. Water dripped from our heads. Beyond the fence, the most blinded Fradi fans shook the grill with glee.
And then the team appeared. And then we throw the whole distance. We embraced coach Dezső Novák, Fradi’s chronicler Béla Nagy, Attila Hajdu, who took a penalty in the lead 2-0, Krisztián Lisztes, 19, and Otto Vincze, who scored two goals. We were very proud to celebrate this company, to have seen this victory. So we would not have thought that we would not see any of them in the next 25 years, because in this quarter of a century, besides Fradi, DVSC was on the main board of BL, but neither the Budapest nor the Debrecen teams could win more .
On Thursday, September 14, 1995, at five in the morning, the owner of the Zurich bar lowered the blinds and left us in the street. The trams were running, it wasn’t raining. I slept in the car next to the train station until a local police officer came through the car window. So I thought it was better to head towards Budapest. It was a long journey, I was impatiently wandering through the radio display around 7pm, somewhere on the outskirts of Linz. I was looking for Kossuth radio. The transmission was already on the medium wave, I did not hear the crackling of the sizzle, but I certainly heard it when at 19.05 after the signal from Mundo Deportivo. The presenter, László Török, said that after the phone calls of the students throughout the day – at the request of the public – the goals of the broadcast of the Grasshoppers-Fradi match would be repeated, and then the reports made with the players and coaches.
He even said: The reporter, Gábor Lantos.
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