The moment we've been waiting for has arrived, as our men's football team has reached the spring knockout stage of an international cup for the second year in a row. Our team met Greece's Olympiacos at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus in the first leg of the UEFA Europa Conference League Round of 16 play-off, after a superb run in the autumn that saw us finish second in our group, unbeaten. The fired-up Greek fans were allowed to return to the stadiums after more than two months of suspension following a decision by the Greek government. The 650 or so Fradi supporters who travelled to the encounter were undisturbed and took up the challenge of cheering over the home crowd. Ferencváros started with Dibusz - Wingo, Cissé, Mmaee, Ramírez - Makreckis, Maiga - Zachariassen, Abu Fani, Marquinhos - Varga B.

First half

We started the match in a dream-like fashion, but then VAR dragged us back down to earth. Abu Fani did well to curl a free kick onto the head of Barnabás Varga in the 2nd minute, our striker slid a beautiful ball into the goal, but as it turned out, it was from offside. There was no other major excitement in front of goal in the first quarter of an hour, Olympiacos had possession and our team tried to counter: in the 14th minute Abu Fani set up Varga and with the goalkeeper out of position there was a chance of danger, but Paschalakis headed the ball away from our striker. In the 18th minute Ramírez was allowed to sprint up the left, he had a good look at who was inside but his cross was not perfect for Zachariassen to head in. In the 24th minute, another attack came up the left flank, Ramírez dribbled inside and shot flat right from 16 meters out. The Greek goalkeeper could only hit the effort into a corner, which was not threatening their goal in the end. We were getting more and more in front of the Olympiacos goal, and in the 29th minute a right-wing cross was swung between Varga and Marquinhos, and then Varga headed over a repeat from the left. In the 32nd minute, Dénes Dibusz, who became a club record holder today, showed great bravery to save David Carmo's powerful header. Then, in the 40th minute, Abu Fani's 18-metre free kick was easily saved by Paskalakis. At the other end, Rodinei's cross caused concern, the ball bounced into a corner which was not dangerous in the end. The first half ended goalless.

Second half

Neither coach made a substitution at the break. A weak shot from Alexandropoulos opened the second 45 minutes for Greece, and he was soon after shown a yellow card on the other end. In the 57th minute, Abu Fani's corner was headed in by Varga but bounced off a defender. Another corner kick was cleared by the defenders, but Abu Fani recovered the ball and his shot from an acute angle was cleared by the home goalkeeper. In the first quarter of an hour after half time we put the opposition under pressure, but unfortunately there was little danger in our attempts. After a rebounded shot by Masuras, Olympiacos had a chance to take a corner, but the ball went over their heads. The Greek club then made two substitutions with Podence and Horta coming on for Alexandropoulos and Masuras. In the 64th minute, Wingo made a great save from el-Kaabi in our five. In the 74th minute, Horta's cross surprised Dibusz, who might have been a bit out of position, and his shot from a corner was blocked by the defenders. In the 75th minute, Dejan Stankovic made two substitutions, Ben Romdhane and Pesic replacing Barnabas Varga and Marquinhos. In the 80th minute, Dibusz again made a superb save when he pushed a Greek shot out of the bottom right corner. In the 83rd minute, El Kaabi gave the home side the lead (1-0). After the goal, Makreckis looked for Ben Romdhane in midfield but the ball did not reach the Tunisian.

In a game with balanced forces, Olympiacos won with a goal in the dying stages of the game. We will continue next week - 22nd February, 21.00 - from one goal down.