Our men's football team beat Borac Banja Luka 3-2 in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw. We met Bosnian champions Borac Banja Luka in the second leg of the UEFA Europa League play-off round on Thursday 29 August at 21.00. The first meeting in Budapest ended in a 0-0 draw, meaning we had to qualify for the UEL main draw away, where we have previously played in 2019, 2021 and 2022. We knew in advance that the loser of the tie would advance to the UEFA Europa League - to avoid this, head coach Pascal Jansen opted for a starting eleven of Dibusz - Makreckis, Cissé, Knoester, Ramírez - Maiga, Rommens, Abu Fani, Misidjan, Traoré - Pesics.

First half

In the fifth minute, Pesic's shot flew wide of the home goal after a lapse in defense. Soon after, Pesic was the set-up man and then Abu Fani fired in a much better attempt, but it was off target. In the 16th minute, the home side then shone with a long-range attempt, but Dibusz confidently held the ball and Knoester had to clear a ball into the middle at the end of a home counter-attack.

In the 28th minute, Herera offered Dibusz a shot, but our goalkeeper won the duel. The home side arrived into the match and the home crowd created an amazing atmosphere in this period. In the 35th minute, Traoré had a great chance in the box, but our striker shot badly over the goal. This was the last significant scene of the first forty-five minutes, so no goal was scored in the first half.

Second half

We made two changes at the break, with Kristoffer Zachariassen coming on for Maiga and Misidjan replaced by Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane. In the 48th minute Pesics headed Traoré's cross towards the goal, but the header was not dangerous. In the 61st minute, Dibusz had to hold a cross from home, and no major chances were created by either side at this stage of the game.

In the 68th minute, the home side had a promising free kick from a promising position, but the free kick ended up in the hands of Dibusz. In the 70th minute we were again freshened up, with Traore replaced by Kady Borges. Immediately afterwards there was a huge scramble in the home goal, but we couldn't squeeze the ball into the net. On the other side it took a single pass to set up a chance in front of Dibusz. Shortly afterwards, Eldar Civic came on for Ramírez, who was injured and had to be nursed on the pitch for a long time. In the 85th minute, Barnabás Varga came on for Pesics in the forward line. Shortly before the end of normal time, Ben Romdhane tried to cross, but the home goalkeeper got hold of the ball. The referee signalled five minutes of extra time and in the 94th minute Abu Fani's cross was headed wide by Zachariassen.
No goal was scored in normal time and extra time was called!

Extra time

Abu Fani had a shot inside the penalty area at the start of extra time, but the home goalkeeper was able to save. The home crowd even celebrated a corner as a goal, and what we had feared was finally happening, the ball was headed into our goal from a corner kick by Grahovac (1-0). We went ahead after that, but a header from ours was saved by the defence. The first period of extra time ended with a one-goal home lead.

Zsombor Gruber came on for Cissé at the break, Pascal Jansen also wanted to strengthen our attacking play. In the 109th minute, Manojlovic was fouled inside the penalty area and the referee awarded a penalty. Barnabás Varga got behind the ball and confidently scored the penalty (1-1)! In the continuation, there was no more scoring situation in front of either goal, so we continued with a penalty shootout!

The home side started the penalty shootout, Herrera kicked the ball over the top. Rommens was the first to take the penalty, but he too made a mistake. Kvrzic scored his penalty and then Ben Romdhane shot confidently into the net. In the third, Savic also started with a goal, and Abu Fani made no mistake either, putting the ball under the bar. In the fourth Cavic missed a penalty, but Kady kicked the ball into the bottom left corner, which gave us the lead! In the fifth round, the Bosnians made a mistake and we qualified for the UEFA Europa League main draw, 1-1 after 120 minutes, winning 3-2 on penalties!