Kodro's goal gave us a 1-0 win over the Turkish record champions

On Wednesday evening at 19:00 in Hartberg, our team played their last friendly match before next week's UEFA Conference league match against Gabala SC, against Turkish record champions and former UEFA Cup winners Galatasaray, whose fans numbered around 1500, but also fans from Fehervar were present in the stadium of TSV Hartberg, which is part of the Austrian top flight. Our head coach sent our team out with the following line-up. Kovács - Nego, Rus, Serafimov, Shabanov, Heister - Pinto, Fiola - Lednev, Petryak - Kodro.

Almost immediately after the kick-off, we had the first Turkish chance, Aktürkoğlu fired a feint shot 17 metres over the goal. In the 13th minute, Aktürkoğlu again showed his skill, shooting 13 metres from goal at the end of a long solo run, but his shot was blocked. The first Vidi chance came in the 21st minute, when Lednev's long-range free-kick was on target, but the Galata keeper had no trouble with his shot into the middle of the goal. A minute later, the Turkish side again had a chance in front of the number 7 man, and his shot from a sharp angle was saved by Kovács. Then in the 24th minute, Dani Kovács pulled off a great save, at the end of a nice Turkish attack Mohamed Mostafa was in position, his close range shot was saved by our goalkeeper with his foot.

In the 32nd minute, Serafimov won a ball in the centre circle, from which Fiola led a quick counter-attack, before finding Petryak, who showed a trick inwards, then passed to Fiola, who ran up the wing, and he put the ball straight into the middle, which Kodro put into the goal from close range - a very nice Vidi attack, which our striker calmly finished with a goal (1-0).

Our lead caught Galatasaray off guard, who couldn't really deal with our good defence in the next ten minutes, and finally in the 42nd minute the Turks found the gap in the back: Akgün gave a brilliant through ball to Mohamed Mostafa, who shot 8 meters wide of the goal, and the teams went into the dressing room with a 1-0 lead to Vidi.

The second half started with Akbaba's 22-metre shot, which was confidently saved by Kovács. In the 51st minute, 36-year-old substitute Bafétimbi Gomis threatened, but his shot from 8 metres out was blocked by the defenders. Seven minutes later, after Akgün's pass, Bafétimbi Gomis could have found the net again, slipping a shot in from a few metres out, but our goalkeeper did well to close the angle and save the almost 100% goal. In the 60th minute, our head coach made several substitutions. 

In the 65th minute, Bumba found Dardai on the left wing, who fired a shot from a sharp angle after a feint, the ball crossed in front of the goal, Bumba dived in from long range but the ball went inches wide of his feet. A minute later, Zivzivadze was in a good position, he beat the goalkeeper but fired wide of the empty goal from ten yards. In the 71st minute Funsho, Stopira and Pokorny also came on. A couple of minutes later, Funsho's cross bounced back and forth in front of the Galatasaray goal and Fiola fired just wide of the top right corner from 15 yards. 

In the 82nd minute Aktürkoğlu curled a free kick 22 metres over the goal, and five minutes before the end Funsho fed the ball to Bumba, who curled a shot 8 metres out, but the Turkish goalkeeper saved well to keep the score 1-0. Vidi's next match will be on 21st July, when we will face Azerbaijan's Galaba SC in the second qualifying round of the ECHL at the MOL Arena Sósto.