After their 1-0 win over Panathinaikos, Real Madrid could go into the game knowing that a victory would allow them to catch Puskás Akadémia, which won both their games so far, and set up a decisive tie on Sunday, and will almost certainly be there in the bronze or gold medal match. As expected, the match started with Madrid attacking and creating sitters, but once or twice the Dunajská Streda side managed to get away. In the 8th minute, Real's Pol Fortuny delivered a dangerous shot - goalkeeper Michal Lukác had the chance to justify why he was the first choice of head coach Béla Balla. DAC were sitting deep in front of their goal, waiting for a quick counter-attack to create some threat on the other end, but the energy of the Žitný Ostrov side was completely consumed by defence in the first half of the match, and they did not really have the chance to counter. The huge Real dominance was converted into a goal in the 27th minute: Bruno Iriz broke into the Dunajská Streda box from the right, was precise in passing it to Fortuny coming in the middle, who fired a left-footed shot into the bottom left corner (1-0).

After the turnaround, the cat-and-mouse game continued, with Real patiently knocking the ball around and DAC trying to close down the passing lanes to the goal with varying degrees of success. The Danubian side resisted until the 48th minute, when Mascaró received a great ball in the inside-left forward's position, pulled it superbly back to trick his defender and curled a right-footed shot into the left-hand corner (2-0). The two goalscorers were then substituted with the same impetus by Real head coach Pau Quesada Tormos, who - aware of an apparently safe lead - provided the others opportunity. The Spaniards could have scored a third goal soon after, but Babacar Diocou's run and laid-off ball was headed just wide of the right post by Andrés Baixauli. Of course, Madrid, for whom a draw against the hosts on Sunday would be enough to book their place in the final due to their better goal difference, hardly regretted this.

GALLERY

XV. Puskás–Suzuki Cup, group A

Real Madrid CF–FC DAC 1904 2–0 (1–0)

Goalscorers: Fortuny (27.), Mascaró (48.)

Real Madrid: Mantecón (goalkeeper); Perea, Moya (De Las Sías, 57.), Espinola, Baixauli, Hernández (Gil, 35.), Fortuny (Maya, 50.), Mascaró (Sánchez, 50.), Moreno, Serrano, Iriz (Diocou, 35.).

DAC: Lukác (goalkeeper); Hipp (Mar. Kucman, 55.), Lami, Fancovic, Ziga, Urban (Csóka, 44.), Mat. Kucman, Angyal, Zimani (Nemcok, 44.), Mizerák, Raska.