Historic international cup success: our soccer team is back in the quarterfinals after fifty years!
Our defending champion men's soccer team hosted Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad at Groupama Arena in the second leg of the Europa League play-offs for a place in the quarter-finals. In the first leg a week earlier in Bulgaria, the hosts won 2-1. Therefore, we needed a two-goal victory to advance. This match was the fifth meeting between the two teams this season, after they had already played each other three times in the Champions League qualifiers and the Europa League group stage, and once more in the play-offs.

For the home game, our head coach Robbie Keane selected the following starting lineup: Gróf – Makreckis, Cissé, Raemaekers, Gómez, Cadu – Kanikovszki, Abu Fani, Ötvös – Yusuf, Joseph.

First half

The referee, Chris Kavanagh from England, blew his whistle and our team started the game. After a long pass, goalkeeper Bormann had to save the ball from Joseph. The home team's dominance in the opening minutes was broken by a quick counterattack, but our defense managed to clear the ball. Shortly afterwards, our forwards also excelled. After a quick pass inside the box, we set up Kanikovszki, who shot into the bottom left corner (1-0). We had equalized in aggregate. After a tackle, Ötvös had to limp off the pitch and was replaced by Zachariassen. It was not in vain. In the 31st minute, he almost copied Kanikovszki's move: he also shot into the same corner on the run (2-0).

We confidently held on to the result for the rest of the half and went into the break with a lead that meant we were through to the next round.

Second half

After the break, the teams continued with the same line-ups. The only change was in Ludogorets's play, as they did everything they could to improve their score, threatening Gróf's goal several times, which our goalkeeper defended confidently. On the other side, however, only the crossbar saved the visitors' net after Yusuf's shot. We were forced to make another substitution, as Cissé injured his hand and was replaced by Szalai.
The visitors earned a series of corners, but their attempts came to nothing. On our side, Bonmann saved Yusuf's excellent shot, and shortly afterwards pushed Zachariassen's shot away with a reflex movement.

In the final minutes, Ludogorets tried to increase the pace, but the crowd only saw shots from us, with Joseph's attempt being saved by the Bulgarian goalkeeper.
With minutes to go, the referee did not award a penalty against us after a lengthy VAR review because Makreckis' foul inside the box was preceded by an offside.

In the final minutes, the Bulgarians only had enough strength for fruitless attempts, and the result remained unchanged, with our team advancing with a 3-2 aggregate score. This means that after fifty years, Ferencváros can once again compete in the quarterfinals of an international cup! Here a Portuguese team, Braga or Porto, will be waiting for us. The draw will be held on Friday at 1 p.m. at the headquarters of the UEFA in Nyon.

Our team will next take the field on March 1 at 6:45 p.m. against Kazincbarcika in the Fizz League at Groupama Arena.