Ferencváros Drops Out of Europa League with Double Defeat

After last week’s 2-0 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen in Germany, Hungarian football team Ferencváros lost 2-0 in the second leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie on Thursday, going out with a double defeat and 4-0 aggregate.

The match was unfortunately decided in the third minute when Leverkusen’s Moussa Diaby converted a goal from a set-piece. Both sides had chances in the remaining time, but the goalkeepers made excellent saves and were helped out by the crossbar on one occasion. Near the end of the match, the German team’s Amine Adli scored again, setting the final result.

The Hungarian home fans gave the teams a stadium-wide cheer, with the long stands covered in green, white, and black, while a figure of a valiant was drawn in the stands behind one of the goals with the words “up, up valiants for battle!”

If not the fans, then the home players were certainly sobered by the German team’s early lead. It took nine minutes for Ferencváros to get their first shot on target, but Civic’s effort missed the target. From the 20th minute onwards, the Hungarian Green and Whites were able to put some pressure on the German team, but they were unable to equalize in this period.

In the second half, the visitors continued their onslaught; Ferencváros barely managed to break the grip, but they were spared another goal as Diaby’s shot hit the left post.

In the 60th minute, the Green and Whites stabilized their game and managed to keep the ball and again lead attacks.

With time running out, drop-out was all but decided, but the home side was not discouraged and tried to get the goal of honor to avoid a double defeat, but the tiring Hungarian team’s efforts were increasingly feeble.

Finally, nearing the end of the second half, a counterattack from Leverkusen decided that Ferencváros could not avoid a double defeat, as substitute Adli doubled the visitors’ lead and the Ruhr side progressed 4-0 on aggregate.

Ferencváros head coach Stanislav Cherchesov said after the match that he was proud of the path Ferencváros had taken to the last 16 of the Europa League, adding that he would like to take the team at least that far in the Champions League next year. According to him, to win such matches, Ferencváros needs to improve in all areas, both individually and at team level, but the most important thing is to keep his players healthy. He was referring to the fact that five players were unavailable against Bayer Leverkusen due to injury, and Henry Wingo also went off early in the return leg.

Featured photo via MTI/Koszticsák Szilárd