The time has come: on Wednesday evening, it was decided who would advance to the Champions League main draw. Qarabag had a 3-1 advantage going into the second leg in Baku, but as Robbie Keane said at the press conference: "As long as there is hope, we will fight!"

There were a few changes to the starting lineup compared to the one in Budapest, including the absence of Alex Tóth, which our sporting director, Tamás Hajnal, also discussed on the Fradi Zóna Live Vodcast. Naby Keita replaced our talented national team player in the starting lineup, alongside Jonathan Levi and Ibrahim Cissé, as well as Bence Ötvös, who was injured last week but has since recovered and received his first call-up to the national team.

First half

The local announcer and nearly 40,000 fans set the tone, and although Qarabag started enthusiastically, our defense was solid. We had to wait until the 10th minute for our first real chance, when Keita's excellent long pass found O'Dowda on the left, but goalkeeper Kochalski moved well and kicked the ball into the field. It landed right in front of Keita, who tried to shoot at the empty goal, but his shot went over.

Then came what we had all been waiting for, that early goal! In the 12th minute, Varga broke into the box and his pass to the center was shot into the goal by Lenny Joseph. 0-1! Although the goal was reviewed by VAR for a while, referee Turpin finally pointed to the starting point.

In the 20th minute, the second goal almost came, but Varga shot just wide after a dangerous pass from Levi. Two minutes later, Kanikovszki had a chance to shoot, but the Azerbaijani goalkeeper made a diving save. It was as if a goal-scoring conveyor belt had been switched on, because two minutes later, Kochalski made a tremendous save to push Varga's dangerous shot away from the bottom left corner.

Then came the cold shower. In the 25th minute, Akhundzade started a quick attack with Ötvös, and although our player was left in a suspicious position, the referee did not blow his whistle, and the Azerbaijani attacker passed to the center, where Leandro Andrade arrived in the second wave and, after a calm dribble, shot into the bottom left corner. 1-1!

After the goal, Qarabag tried harder, but they only had a big chance in the 43rd minute. Then Kady Borges' dangerous free kick hit the side netting. Unfortunately, in the 45th minute, Andrade took advantage of a major defensive error, outran Fradi's defenders, then passed to the center of the penalty area, where Zoubir rolled the ball into the bottom right corner. 2-1! That was the end of the first 45 minutes.

Second half

Robbie Keane made two substitutions for the second half. Cadu replaced Levi, and Alekszandar Pesics came on for Ötvös. Fradi started more actively, and in the 54th minute, Joseph was fouled inside the box, resulting in a penalty. Varga stepped up to take the kick and confidently slotted it into the bottom left corner. 2-2!

In the 61st minute, O'Dowda received a great pass from Kanikovszki, but his shot was blocked by the defenders for a corner. In the 72nd minute, Jankovics was able to break away after a bad pass, but fortunately his shot went wide. Alex Tóth and Zsombor Gruber came on as fresh substitutes for the final push.

The Azerbaijanis attacked less and less, and when they did manage to get into our half, they were unable to finish their counterattacks well. In the last 20 minutes, we had more possession and repeatedly tried to break through the opponent's box, but we were unable to create any big chances, with our crosses being cleared by either the defenders or goalkeeper Kochalski.

In the 82nd minute, Alex Tóth produced a moment of magic! The Fradi talent took a free kick from the left side and shot it fantastically into the top left corner. 2-3! In the 87th minute, Kochalski made a great save on Varga's header, and our attacker was only able to shoot over the goal from a tight angle on the rebound. In the final minutes, we continued to push forward for a fourth goal that would have sent the game into extra time, but we were unable to find the back of the net.

Despite the excellent 3-2 victory, it has been decided that our team will continue in the UEFA Europa League in the fall. The draw will take place on Friday.