Honvéd and MOL Vidi progress in Europe

Honvéd head coach Attila Supka - in his third spell in that role at the club - lined his team up in a 3-5-2 formation with Danilo and Holender providing a twin spearhead upfront and it was the pacy, incisive Holender who had an immediate chance to put Honvéd in pole position, but he could only scoop his right-footed shot over the crossbar from the left side of the penalty area. The Honvéd youth product and former Hungary Under-21 international made amends in the sixth minute though, catching Leon Najdovski in possession in a central position 30 metres out before surging towards goal and slotting the ball through goalkeeper Daniel Bozinovski's legs and into the net from 12 metres.

Ten minutes later, the same player doubled the hosts' lead when he ran onto a Dániel Gazdag through pass in the left channel and lifted the ball past the onrushing Bozinovski and into an empty net. One would have to question why the keeper needed to come out to close down such a narrow angle, thereby giving Holender an easy decision to shoot, but Attila Supka's team weren't worried about that; they now led 3-2 on aggregate.

There had been very little for Dávid Gróf in the Honvéd goal to worry about up until then and that continued until the last throes of the first half when he was required to plunge to his left to beat away Leon Najdovski's 20-metre shot following a short free-kick routine.

Little changed after the break in this respect, Rabotnicki midfielder Oliver Peev blazing over from distance when afforded a sight of goal and both sides generally failing to produce much in the way of flowing moves or high-quality play. That was until the 63rd minute when summer signing Krisztián Vadócz slid the ball through to Danilo running in on goal, the Brazilian striker then crudely taken out by defender Sebastián Herera just eight metres from goal. The Rabotnicki left-back was immediately dismissed by referee Iulian Calin, standing in for original lead official Ionut Avram who had gone off injured in the 29th minute, before Danilo stepped up to dispatch the resulting penalty coolly into the top right corner of the net to give Honvéd an imposing 3-0 lead with 26 minutes remaining.

In truth, Honvéd's six-foot-plus centre forward had given Rabotnicki problems almost throughout the match and he showed his class in the 84th minute when he collected substitute Dániel Lukács' pass in midfield and waltzed past three visiting defenders before burying the ball past a flailing Bozinovski for Honvéd's fourth of the night. Indeed, Danila had a golden chance for a hat-trick in added time but his close-range header from Tonci Kukoc's left-wing cross was brilliantly blocked by Bozinovski.

It didn't matter though; Honvéd had cruised through to the second qualifying round where they will play either Qarabag of Azerbaijan or Progres Niederkorn of Luxembourg, the home match due to play on Tuesday or Thursday next week depending on if city rivals Ferencváros also make it through or not.

Budapest Honvéd FC 4–0 Rabotnicki Skopje (MAC) (HT: 2–0)
Bozsik Stadium, behind closed doors, refs: Avram (Calin, 29. - Romania)
Goalscorers: HON: Holender (6., 16.), Danilo (63. pen, 84.)
Yellow cards: HON: Uzoma (20.), Batik (51.), Holender (78.), RAB: Mitrev (23.), Stjepanovic (61.), Najdovski (77.)
Red card: Herera (62.)
Honvéd progress 5–2 on aggregate.

Budapest Honvéd: Gróf - Batik, Kamber, Skvorc - Heffler T., Nagy G. (Kovács N., 86.), Vadócz, Gazdag, Uzoma (Kukoc, 68.) - Holender (Lukács D., 83.), Danilo

Rabotnicki: Bozinovski - Stevic, Najdovksi, Mitrev, Herera - Peev, Stepanovic, Bopesu - Sarkozki (Chinedu, 70.), Stevanovic, P. Petkovski (F. Petkovski, 70.).

Meanwhile, in the 1st qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, MOL Vidi FC (formerly known as Videoton) won 2-1 at home to FC Dudelange of Luxembourg to progress to the next stage 3-2 on aggregate. Lazovic had given the Székesfehérvár club an early lead when he sent the ball into the bottom right corner of the visitors' goal from nine metres at their temporary home of the Pancho Aréna in Felcsút, but Vidi were pegged back nine minutes into the second half when Vinicius' error allowed Couturier to slam the ball past Vidi goalkeeper Ádám Kovácsik to level the tie at 2-2 on aggregate.

Parity didn't last for long though, Marko Scepovic converting a rebound after Nego's first-time shot had hit the crossbar and bounced down onto the goalline and out. Thereafter, Vidi preserved their lead with little fuss and were glad to reach the end of the match unscathed after Máté Patkai avoided injury when Melisse's awful tackle saw him scythed down in the 93rd minute, the away-team defender receiving a straight red card for his foul. Vidi will now play Bulgarian champions Ludogorets in the next round next week.

Vidi FC 2–1 F91 Dudelange (Luxembourg) 2–1 (HT: 1–0)
Felcsút, 2514 spectators, ref: Robertson (SCO)
Goalscorers: Lazovic (18.), M. Scepovic (58.), LUX: Couturier (54.)
Yellow cards: Pátkai (21.), Fiola (27.), Varga (88.), M. Scepovic (95.), illetve Schnell (36.), Sinani (42.)
Red card: Mélisse (93.)
MOL Vidi FC progress 3–2 on aggregate

MOL Vidi FC: Kovácsik - Fiola, Juhász, Vinícius, Stopira - A. Hadzic - Nego, Pátkai - Huszti (Nikolov, 63.) - M. Scepovic (Kovács, 89.), Lazovic (Varga J., 84.)

Dudelange: Joubert - Jordanov, Schnell, Prempeh, Mélisse - Sinani (Yéyé, 76.), Stélvio da Cruz, Kruska (Perez, 83.), Couturier - Turpel, Stolz (Ibrahimovic, 70.)