Ferencváros, the winner of the last six Hungarian league titles, came into the second leg of their tie against the Czech Viktoria Plzeň in the Europa League in unusually bad form. In fact, they have not even been able to win a single league game with their new head coach Robbie Keane, drawing two and losing two.
On the international scene, however, Fradi was holding their own. With already Keane at the helm, they beat AZ Alkmaar 4–3 in the final game in the league phase of the EL, thus qualifying for the preliminary round of the knockout stage. There, they won the home game against Plzeň, with a deflected shot from Israeli international Mohammad Abu Fani, so they travelled to Czechia for the rematch with a one-goal advantage. What made their task more difficult was that their top scorer Barnabás Varga, who has scored six goals in this EL campaign, was out due to suspension.
The one-goal lead in the tie, alas, was not enough for the reigning Hungarian champions to make it to the Round of 16.
The first 20 minutes were quite balanced in terms of chances in front of the two goals. In the 28th minute, however, Rafiu Durosinmi tucked home a rebound after a corner, giving the Plzeners the lead.
Ferencváros had the chance to immediately reply with a goal of their own. They got to take a free kick from a very promising spot. However, embarrassingly, Eldar Ćivić struck his own teammate Kristoffer Zachariassen, squandering the great chance.
Plzeň did no such favours. After new Ferencváros signing Júlio Romao gave away the ball in a dangerous place, Pavel Šulc converted his chance and made it 2–0 in the 35th minute. Just four minutes later Durosinmi got himself his second goal, essentially putting an end to the question of which team would advance.
The second half yielded no goals for either side, with Ferencváros being the more active of the two—however, that did little good for them. Viktoria Plzeň made it to the Round of 16 in the Europa League with 3–1 on aggregate, where they will face either the Spanish Athletic Bilbao or the Italian Lazio.
Meanwhile, Ferencváros will have to focus on the domestic competitions. Currently, they are five points behind first-placed Puskás Akadémia in the league.
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