
On September 16, 2021 Ferencváros started its European tour in the Europa League, in Group G. Ferencváros lacked several players due to injuries today but ran onto the pitch still with a strong lineup: Dibusz-Wingo, Blazic, S. Mmaee, Civic – Zubkov, Vecsei, Loncar, Zachariassen – Tokmac, R. Mmaee.
We showed the fighting spirit immediately and in the 8th minute we took the lead: Tokmac collected a ball and centered nicely to Ryan Mmaee who only needed to pass the ball into the net.
Two minutes later we could have already extended the lead but Wingo’s shot was blocked by Hradecky. In the middle of the first half, Bayer came onto us and created several dangerous attacks of which they converted one in the 38th minute: Frimpong received the ball on the right wing, then passed back to the box where Palacios arrived and equalized. However, only one minute later Vecsei scored for Fradi again, but using VAR, this goal was annulled. The teams left for half time with 1-1.
In the second half we continued playing as equals and had several chances. We could not win the match today though as towards the end, the German team pressured us more and more and forced our players to make mistakes. This resulted in the 69th minute in the leading Bayer goal that we could not answer with another equalizer anymore.
Although we suffered a defeat today in the opener, the performance was more than promising. In Round 2 of Group G, we host Real Betis at home on September 30 at 21.00.
UEFA Europa League, Group G, Round 1
Bayer Leverkusen – FTC 2-1 (1-1)
Leverkusen, BayArena
Bayer Leverkusen: Hradecky – Frimpong, Kossounou, Tah, Sinkgraven (Hincapie, 66.) – Palacios (Aránguiz, 49.), Demirbay – Adil (Bellarabi, 67.), Wirtz (Amiri, 80.), Diaby - Alario (Schick, 66.)
Head coach: Gerardo Seoane
FTC: Dibusz – Wingo, Blazic, S. Mmaee, Civic – Zubkov (Cabraja, 87.), Vécsei (Uzuni, 66.), Loncar (Gavric, 76.), Zachariassen – Tokmac, R. Mmaee
Head coach: Peter Stöger
Goals: Palacios (38.), Wirtz (69.), resp. Ryan Mmaee (8.)
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