After knocking out Tobol, defending Hungarian champions and Hungarian Cup-winners Ferencváros hosted Slovan Bratislava in the first match of the second qualifying round of the Champions League at the Groupama Arena. Our head coach Stanislav Cherchesov did not change his winning team from a week ago, so he sent into battle the starting line-up of Dibusz - Wingo, S. Mmaee, Kovacevic, Civic - Laidouni, Esiti, Zachariassen - Tokmac, Boli, Traoré.

First half

It was not long before the first opportunity was created: in the second minute Laidouni sent a free kick towards the far post, where Boli arrived, but the Ivorian striker missed the target. In the 6th minute, Dibusz saved a free kick from Weiss, while the rebound was missed by the Slovan striker.

Four minutes later, Zachariassen got on the end of a Civic cross but his header bounced off the top bar, while Tokmac fired the rebound towards goal but it was blocked by the visiting defence and the result remained 0-0. In the 21st minute, the Norwegian striker threatened again, but his left-legged shot was deflected over the goal by Chovan. Past the half-hour mark, we were again in a promising position after Civic's left-wing cross, but Franck Boli's header from the long side was wide of the target.

Ten minutes before the end of the first half, Traoré broke in and his first attempt was blocked, but his second shot was side-footed by Chovan. In the 38th minute, Zachariassen centred after a nice combination but could not find a partner. Although we dominated the first half, we failed to convert them and went into the break with a goalless draw.

Second half

After the turnaround, the first chance came for the visitors, but our defence blocked it. In the 56th minute Tokmac tried to score with the left foot, but missed the goal. A minute later we made a substitution: Traoré was replaced by Loncar. In the 62nd minute, Samy Mmaee tried a long-range effort but his powerful shot missed the target.

In the 68th minute Slovan made a substitution: Ramírez came on for Saponjic. A minute later, after a wonderful pass from Laidouni, Tokmac shot the ball into the middle for Zachariassen, who shot into the goal (1-0). After the goal, two substitutions were made: Boli and Laidouni left the pitch, Mercier and Bassey arrived. A minute later, Slovan also made a substitution: Cavric and Chakvetadze came on for Weiss and Pauschek.

At the break, another change was made, with Auzqui replacing Tokmac. Moments later, Slovan equalised with a goal from Kashia (1-1). In the 86th minute, the away team equalised with a goal from Barseghyan (1-2). In extra time, Slovan made two substitutions: Holman replaced Kucka and Agbo came on for Barseghyan.

We fought until the last second and did our best to equalize, but we couldn't score another goal and lost 2-1. We will play again in a week's time on Wednesday 27 July in Bratislava.