Europa League: Fehérvár continue but Honvéd exit

UEFA Europa League Qualifying Round 2:

Hibernians (Malta) 0-1 Fehérvár FC (HT: 0-0)
Goalscorer: Nikolov (61)
Red card: Shodiya (93)
Hibernians: Cremona - Agius, Almeida, Apap - Z. Grech (Winchester, 64), Shodiya, J. Grech, Attard (Vella, 82), Artiles - Teixeira (Uzeh, 74), Degabriele
Fehérvár FC: Kovácsik - Bolla, Musliu, Stopira, Fiola - Alef (Pátkai, 51) - Nego, Nikolov, Houri, Petrjak (Evandro, 82) - Zivzivadze (Nikolic, 88)

Last season's Hungarian league runners-up Fehérvár dominated possession in the first half and created several good openings, but couldn't find a breakthrough until they deservedly took the lead in the 61st minute through Nikolov following a corner. Not long after that, Petrjak could have decided the tie, but he missed a great opportunity and that allowed the Maltese team to exert some late pressure and create chances to equalise.

They failed in that quest though and Gábor Márton's team thus earned the right to play French club Reims in the 3rd qualifying round next week. Should they prove successful then, the only remaining obstacle to the main group stage would be a play-off later this month.

Budapest Honvéd 0-2 Malmö FF (HT: 0-1)
Goalscorers: Toivonen (43), Traustason (86)
Budapest Honvéd: Tujvel - Mezgrani, Batik, Baráth, Aliji - Zsótér (Szendrei, 46), Bocskay (Kesztyűs, 84), Hidi, Gazdag - Ugrai, Balogh (Traore, 69)
Malmö: Johansson - Larsson, Ahmedhodzic, Nielsen - Berget, Lewicki (Adrian, 93), Rakip, Knudsen - Sarr (Nalic, 67), Toivonen, Rieks (Traustason, 79)

From the outset, Malmö had clearly decided to dominate possession whenever possible but their superiority in this regard wasn't matched by any creativity in the final third of the pitch, Honvéd instead remaining solid in defence and restricting their guests to shots from distance which were generally off target.

The reigning Hungarian Cup winners had to rely on their Slovak goalkeeper Tomas Tujvel for the first time in the 34th minute but just as it seemed as if the match would be goalless at the break, Malmö took the lead and in doing so, Honvéd conceded their hundredth goal in the history of their participation in the Europa League and predecessor, the UEFA Cup.

Honvéd's game became more aggressive as they sought to restore parity and possession of the ball became more balanced, but the team from Kispest team weren't really able to create any clear chances, the first serious attempt of the home team coming in the 75th minute when Roland Ugrai's right-footed curler flew just wide of the far-right post. There were some further promising moves but to no avail and instead a counter-attack brought a second goal for Malmö, who ultimately eased through to the next round.