Our 36-time Hungarian champion men's football team hosted Ludogorets Razgrad at Groupama Arena in the second leg of the third round of the Champions League qualifiers. The first leg in Bulgaria ended in a 0-0 draw, so our team had to fight for qualification at home, which would have meant automatic entry into the UEFA Europa League group stage and a Champions League play-off against Azerbaijani champions Qarabag, who knocked out North Macedonian side Shkendija.

In front of a nearly sold-out crowd at Groupama Arena, head coach Robbie Keane sent out the same starting lineup as in Razgrad: Dibusz – Makreckis, Gartenmann, Raemaekers, Szalai, O'Dowda – Ötvös, Kanikovszki, Tóth – Varga, Joseph.

First half

Barnabás Varga had the first chance, but he was unable to control the ball in front of goal after a pass from Gartenmann. In the 6th minute, the home fans' hearts skipped a beat when Ludogorec scored, especially as the video referee took a long time to review the incident, but the goal was disallowed. Shortly afterwards, Bile found himself in a good position but shot wide, then Vidal's header towards the centre was caught by Dibusz. In the 21st minute, Makreckis beat his defender with an excellent ball reception, then shot from a sharp angle after a nice trick, but Padt was able to save it. After the corner, Ötvös threatened, but his shot went wide.

Shortly afterwards, Dibusz had to make a huge save from Chochev's header. In the 31st minute, Makreckis broke through again, but his close-range shot was blocked at the last moment by the defenders, while at the other end Kurtulus' header went wide. In the 38th minute, the crowd at Groupama Arena jumped to their feet as Ötvös brilliantly spotted Barnabás Varga, who headed in FTC's opening goal past Padt, who had rushed out of his goal (1-0). In extra time, we were awarded a free kick about 18 meters from the goal, but Ötvös, who had provided the assist, failed to find the net.

Second half

In the 53rd minute, Joseph played an excellent pass to Varga, who crossed the ball into the middle, where Tóth managed to pass it on to the unmarked Makreckis, but he shot wide. Shortly afterwards, Joseph found himself in a great position, but he shot the ball straight at the goalkeeper.

In the 65th minute, Ötvös shot from distance, but the ball bounced off the crossbar and out of play. Our team was sharper, but the second Fradi goal did not come, while in the 72nd minute, the Bulgarians threatened through Nedyalkov, but Dibusz was able to save, and then our team captain also caught Vidal's nice scissor kick. In the 75th minute, the excellent Gruber Zsombor came on for Joseph. The substitute immediately provided an assist for Varga, who arrived perfectly in the middle (2-0). Habib Maiga then replaced the double scorer. In the 86th minute, the match was finally decided when Gábor Szalai headed the ball into the Bulgarian goal after a corner kick (3-0). We made two more substitutions in the final minutes, with Kristoffer Zachariassen replacing Kanikovszki and Jonathan Levi replacing Ötvös. However, there were no more chances, and after a 0-0 draw away, our team won 3-0 at home against Bulgarian champions Ludogorets.

This means that our team is now certain to qualify for the UEFA Europa League group stage and will face Azerbaijani side Qarabag in the Champions League play-offs for a place in Europe's most prestigious club competition.

The first match will take place on Tuesday, August 19, at 9:00 PM at Groupama Arena, while the second leg will be held in Azerbaijan on August 27, at 18.45 PM CET.