It seems that whenever we face Bulgarian side Ludogorets in European competition, we immediately score twice against them. In the summer of 2019, we sent the Razgrad team packing with two wins in the Champions League, but they came back in the fall with a win in Budapest in the Europa League group stage, and then the two teams tied in Bulgaria.

This year, in the Champions League qualifiers, we first played them to a 0-0 draw away, then Robbie Keane's team won 3-0 in the return leg. In the end, both teams made it to the UEL main draw again, but this time, based on the competition format, they met in a single match in the league stage, in Budapest. Based on the omens, we could look forward to the match with confidence, as our team had earned seven points in the first three rounds, while Ludogorec had earned three. Head coach Robbie Keane did not include our top scorer, Barnabás Varga, in the starting lineup, which was as follows: Dibusz – Makreckis, Cissé, Raemaekers, Szalai, Cadu – Keita, Zachariassen, Kanikovszki – Yusuf, Pesics.

First half

The visitors, playing in blue and orange, missed the first big chance of the match: we were late in closing down the Bulgarian strikers and Erick Marcus had an easy shot from 12 meters, but his left-footed curler missed our goal. In the 10th minute, we pinned the visitors back in their own half, but first Keita's shot was blocked, then Yusuf's attempt was blocked.

The first yellow card of the match went to the visitors' player, Almeida, who kicked Zachariassen hard. Shortly afterwards, Naby Keita also received a yellow card. In the 23rd minute, Pesics headed Makreckis' cross from the right over the bar. In the 24th minute, our Serbian striker shone again, jumping brilliantly away from his defender, but his cross was caught by the goalkeeper. In the 25th minute, Pesics had a chance to score after Keita's rolling ball, but he missed it, and the linesman's flag went up.

In the 32nd minute, we took the lead: after a pass from Makreckis, Bamidele Yusuf headed the ball to Kanikovszki, who scored with an acrobatic shot into the top left corner (1-0). Cadu almost scored our second goal in the 40th minute, winning the ball at the baseline past a "sleeping" Bulgarian defender, but his pass to the center was intercepted by the visiting goalkeeper in front of Pesics. In the 43rd minute, we scored another goal: Makreckis blindly kicked the ball forward, which landed right in front of Yusuf, and our Nigerian striker pushed it well and shot it into the goal (2-0)... but the video referee disallowed the goal due to offside. The first half ended with a weak long-range shot by Duarte.

Second half 

Alex Tóth replaced Keita at the start of the second half. Our team did not let up after the break, continuously attacking the Bulgarian goal. This resulted in Cadu scoring with a powerful right-footed shot from 11 meters in the 53rd minute (2-0).

In the 58th minute, the visitors had their first chance in a long time, but Dibusz made a brilliant save to deny substitute Bile. Two minutes later, Dibusz had to save again from Bile, punching the ball away after a cross from the right. In the 64th minute, Yusuf was replaced by Joseph. Erick Marcus received a yellow card in the 65th minute after pushing Pesic from behind in anger, who of course took it well. In the 75th minute, Kanikovszki controlled the ball with his thigh outside the box and then fired over the bar with a half-turn.

Ludogorec proved what a good team they are in the 79th minute, punishing our only mistake with a goal, as Son was left alone with the ball and curled it into the top right corner (2-1). Keane responded to the goal with a double substitution, bringing on Varga for Pesics and Ötvös for Kanikovszki. In the 83rd minute, Makreckis received a good ball from Tóth, fired up the rocket, left his man behind, and led the ball alone towards the goal, but he missed the chance, as Padt knew where he was going to shoot and made the save. In the 87th minute, Lenny Joseph sealed the match, shooting into the goal off the right post after a pass from Tóth (3-1). The score remained unchanged for the rest of the match, and our team is now in an impressive third place in the UEL table with 10 points at the halfway point, meaning that it would currently advance directly to the round of 16.