Tough tasks remain for European hopefuls

Arguably Ferencváros had the toughest task of all, having been drawn in the Europa League against recent Champions League participants Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel, but Fradi started positively, Endre Botka surging into the Maccabi penalty area in the third minute and only seeing the ball toe-poked away from him for a corner just as he was about to fire a shot on goal.

Roland Varga was released down the right wing in the seventh minute and his teasing outswinger of a cross was only narrowly headed wide of his own far left post by retreating Maccabi left-back Enric Saborit. Four minutes later, Avi Rikan had the Israeli club's first sight of goal but the diminuitive forward saw his fierce left-footed drive from 25 metres sail a metre or two over the crossbar.

Still, it was Thomas Doll's team on the front foot, Fernando Gorriaran's slaloming run through the visiting defence only halted by a tremendous tackle from Eytan Tibi before Lukács Bőle found Roland Varga with a raking crossfield pass from left to right, but the Hungary international right winger's volley was sliced wide of the near post and into the crowd.

Perhaps the clearest chance of the first half-hour was still to come though and when it did, it fell to Maccabi's Vidar Kjartansson, the striker collecting Rikan's smart through pass in the 29th minute but stroking the ball disappointingly wide of Ferencváros goalkeeper Dénes Dibusz's far left post from ten metres out.

Rikan was really pulling the strings for Vladimir Ivic's team and it was he who jinked inside a Fradi defender in a central position 20 metres from goal, only to see his attempted curler into the bottom left corner of the net go awry by several metres. Teammate Eyal Golas was even further off target with a drive dragged wide of the same left post but the warning signs were there for the home team and continued to be so, Aaron Schoenfeld's strength allowing him the opportunity to execute a bicycle kick which didn't have the requisite power to trouble Dibusz unduly.

The last word of an open first half went to Roland Varga but his rasping, low free-kick from distance was collected by Pedrag Rajkovic diving to his right, the teams then immediately disappearing down the tunnel level at the half-time break. Straight after the change of ends, Varga's central free-kick was floated into the penalty for summer signing from Honvéd, striker David Lanzafarme, but his free header was disappointingly directed straight at Rajkovic.

Back came Maccabi with two very presentable chances within a couple of minutes, firstly, Dor Peretz heading Eli Dasa's right-wing corner back across goal but wide of the right post, then Rikan displaying excellent technique to flash a first-time, left-footed volley just past Dibusz's right post from 15 metres.

Finally, the opening goal fell to home side when Lanzafarme was fouled 25 metres from goal and Varga's right-footed delivery from the centre-right channel was only toe-poked away by Tibi to Stefan Spirovski on the edge of the area, the Macedonian midfielder seeing his instant effort on goal deflected wide of Rajkovic's left hand and into the net in the 61st minute. A partisan crowd of 14,127 went predictably crazy with delight, as did the Fradi players, but there was still plenty of work to be done to subdue a proficient and spirited away side.

Substitute Eliran Atar drew a good block from Dibusz from 16 metres following a half-cleared corner before Peretz missed another header under little pressure 10 metres from goal but Thomas Doll countered with two substitutions to freshen up the hosts, the hamstrung Lanzafarme being replaced by Leandro and Ivan Petriak coming on for Varga with around 20 minutes left.

Meanwhile, Gorriaran had impressed in the Fradi midfield all game and he came agonisingly close to capping his display with a fantastic goal, another jinking run of his opening up a shooting opportunity but he blazed the ball wide of the near left post only nine metres from the Maccabi goal.

Home favourite Dániel Böde came on for the last 12 minutes as Fradi sought to engineer a two-goal cushion to take to Israel next week, but his first noteworthy moment only resulted in a yellow card for a foul in the centre-circle. His Hungary international colleague Endre Botka was in the right place to shoot on goal with four minutes left but his attempted curler flew well wide of the right post.

All the signs were that Fradi would be taking a single-goal lead to Tel Aviv next Thursday but Maccabi grabbed a shock equaliser in added time, Atar trying his luck from 20 metres and encountering the good fortune to see Miha Blazic deflect his effort past a wrong-footed Dibusz and into the right side of the home-team net. Thus, Ferencváros know that after this 1-1 draw, they'll have to go to Israel and score at least once if they are to progress to the next round.

Elsewhere, Ferencváros' great Budapest rivals Újpest took an 8th-minute lead against Neftci in Azerbaijan through Dániel Nagy's first-time volley from 10 metres following a Donát Zsótér corner from the left, but Neftci equalised a quarter of an hour later when Pajovic spilt Júnior's innocuous shot from outside the penalty area and Bagaly Dabo converted the rebound from six metres out. The same player then doubled the Azerbaijani team's lead in the 71st minute with a left-footed drive which flew into the bottom-right corner of Pajovic's net and defeat was confirmed in the 93rd minutes when Sony's pass found Emin Mamudov and the ball bounced off his left foot and into the goal via the leg of Balázs. The 3-1 away loss means Újpest face an uphill task in next Thursday's return leg in Budapest.

The third of Hungary's capital-city teams in Europa League, Budapest Honvéd, conceded early on away against Rabotnicki of Macedonia but equalised in spectacular fashion on the stroke of half-time when Gergő Nagy crashed in a thunderous long-range shot. The hosts wrested back the lead on the hour mark though through Sarkoszki and retained that advantage until the final whistle to leave Honvéd 2-1 behind ahead of Tuesday evening's second leg in the Bozsik stadion.

Finally, in the first qualifying round of the Champions League, MOL-Vidi FC - formerly known as Videoton - took the lead against Luxembourg champions Dudelange through prestige new signing Szabolcs Huszti but were pegged back by a shot from distance in the second-half, a 1-1 draw meaning they will at least take home a potentially important away goal ahead of the second leg at the Pancho Aréna in Felcsút next Tuesday evening.