Ferencváros reach Europa League group stage! – VIDEO

Ferencváros will compete in the group stages of the UEFA Europa League for the first time since the competition was rebranded eleven years ago after the Budapest club defeated FK Suduva of Lithuania 4-2 in the second leg of their qualifying play-off tie in Hungary’s capital city on Thursday night.

Serhiy Rebrov’s team had fallen a goal behind as early as the tenth minute but Roland Varga’s penalty restored parity and Franck Boli scored his first goal for the club in putting ’Fradi’ ahead in first-half added time. Suduva equalised to put themselves in pole position to progress but Tokmac Nguen’s maiden strike for Ferencváros wrested back control of the tie and substitute Mikalai Sihnevich eased any lingering nerves with another successful penalty in second-half added time.

A goalless draw last week had meant that any kind of win would be enough for the current Hungarian league champions to progress to their first group-stage appearance in any European competition since 2004/05 in the UEFA Cup, the previous name for the competition now known as the Europa League.

As if Ferencváros needed any more encouragement to achieve this aim, they were cheered on by a near-capacity, 18,567 crowd in the Groupama Aréna, a large section of which behind one goal succeeded in producing a tremendously raucous, almost-inspirational atmosphere with their many green, white and black-striped flags and constant chanting, backed by drums and a loudspeaker.

It proved to be an open, exciting match from the outset. Suduva right-back Samir Kerla was to prove a threat at set-pieces all evening but his first effort, a spectacular, seventh-minute overhead kick from the back of the Fradi penalty area following a right-wing corner, sailed a good distance wide of its target.

Suduva looked sharp and just three minutes later they punished some lacksadasical defending by scoring the opening goal of the match, Marcel Heister and Lasha Dvali guilty of overplaying the ball in the Ferencváros defence to the extent that Ovidius Verbickas was able to latch on a wayward pass 20 metres from goal, stride into the penalty in the centre-right channel and crash his shot past home-team goalkeeper Dénes Dibusz via the outstretched calf of Dvali’s central-defensive partner Miha Blazic.

That was by no means the away team’s sole foray forward early on either, Josip Tadic’s 21st-minute header from corner perhaps fortunately blocked by Dvali, Dibusz gratefully diving on the loose ball.

Serhiy Rebrov’s men were back in the game in the 35th minute though, after a somewhat bizarre set of circumstances in which Boli latched onto Tokmac’s deflected pass and was brought down by a sliding Ivan Kardum, who’d ill-advisedly surged from his goal. A split-second later though, the covering Suduva defender bundled the ball into an empty net, meaning referee Marco Guida’s penalty award was more a potential punishment than a benefit to Fradi. Nevertheless, winger Roland Varga held his nerve to slot the spotkick low down the middle of the goal and in for the equaliser.

Varga could even have doubled his tally and put Fradi ahead in the tie within two minutes, only for his right-footed effort from the left side of the penalty area to curl too close to Kardum rather than into the vacant right side of the goal.