The second round of qualifiers for the European club competitions has concluded, which means that each of the four Hungarian teams that have made it to the international stage this season has played at least one tie.
Ferencváros were the first to play theirs in the UEFA Champions League. Last week, they beat Armenian champions FC Noah 2–1 on the road, then hosted them for the re-match on Wednesday, 30 July. Fradi got off to a flying start: Aleksandar Pešić found the back of the net within the first minute of the game. Little did the fans know, this was not going to be such an easy affair.
Noah equalized after just six minutes. This happened three more times (!) in the game, Ferencváros taking the lead just for the Armenians to level the score. However, at last, they had no answer to Hungarian international Barnabás Varga’s strike, who scored his team’s fourth goal in the 74th minute after coming on from the bench. Thus, the final 4–3 scoreline was set, and the Hungarian champions advanced with 6–4 on aggregate. What a clash it was!
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Ferencváros will face the Bulgarian side Ludogorets in the third round of the Champions League qualifiers.
ETO FC Győr also faced an opponent from Armenia, FC Pyunik, in the UEFA Conference League qualifying. They had the exact reverse of Ferencváros’s scoreline in the first leg, losing 2–1. However, they managed to turn the tie around in the home leg, winning 3–1 on Thursday, 31 July. Algerian striker Nadhir Benbouali scored twice, then Croatian defender Daniel Štefulj finished it off with the third goal in the 90th minute.
Back-to-back Hungarian Cup winners Paks were the only Hungarian team to enter in the first round. However, they ended up getting knocked out by the Romanian CFR Cluj from the UEFA Europa League (the second year in a row that Romanian opposition has bested them, alas). Still, they have a chance to redeem themselves in the tertiary competition, the Conference League, against NK Maribor from Slovenia.
Paks won the first leg at home 1–0, with midfielder József Windecker scoring the winner with a header. In the second game, Maribor took the lead in the first half. Zsolt Haraszti came to the rescue and got Paks their equalizer in the 58th minute, putting them ahead on aggregate. The score did not change from there, so Paks are off to the next round!
Puskás Akadémia faced off against the Cypriot side Aris Limassol in the Conference League qualifier. After losing the away tie 3–2, the Felcsút team had to play one man down from the 63rd minute onward in the home tie, which resulted in a 0–2 loss. Evidently, that was not enough to make it through; thus, they have bowed out of European competitions for this season.
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Author: Márton Losonczi
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