The Hungarian side Ferencvaros returns to Czechia for the third round of their Europa League playoff match against Viktoria Plzen but holds a slim one-goal advantage from their first match.
The only goal of the match so far comes from Ferencvaros' Mohammed Abu Fani who deflected a shot in the first half while the second leg matchup stands as the most unpredictable in the Europa League playoffs.
The second leg advantage remains uncertain for Plzen since they received home-field advantage by Ferencvaros conceding two late matchday eight goals.
Ferencvaros's midway defeat against AZ Alkmaar became problematic when their opponents scored two late goals to drop them to 17th place and left them unseeded in the playoff stage resulting in their fate to play the home fixture away from their home stadium.
Another advantage would have been a home kickoff for Plzen because they experienced European elimination in all previous contests that began with a road defeat.
Plzen have established an undefeated streak by playing second legs in front of their home fans including four wins and one draw and they currently maintain impressive performance at Doosan Arena with three consecutive victories and 12 scored goals due to their 7-2 triumph against Ceske Budejovice.
European competition has been unkind to the Czech team recently since their previous form aligned with only one loss out of fifteen matches before it dissolved.
Plzen faced Athletic Bilbao and Manchester United as well prior to their first-leg defeat therefore this match presents a better opportunity to evaluate team performance.
With Rafiu Durosinmi netting a brace in a 2-0 victory against Teplice on the road, Miroslav Koubek's team quickly got back to winning ways over the weekend as well. However, since the championship appears to be virtually gone at home, it is crucial that they continue their European campaign.
The fact that their next guests have a terrible record in Czechia—Ferencvaros has lost all six of its previous games there, the most recent of which was against Slavia Prague in 2021—is encouraging for the hosts.
After losing 2-0 at home to Paksi over the weekend, Robbie Keane's team hasn't been well-prepared for this matchup either, falling five points behind Puskas Akademia at the top of the league.
With only two victories in their previous 15 away Europa League games and losses of 5-0 and 2-0 against PAOK and Eintracht Frankfurt in their last two games, the Budapest club's European form is also not much better.
The team has lost six away games in all competitions since Keane was hired at the beginning of 2025, and he has only managed to salvage one point from his three away games thus far.
With only seven goals in Keane's seven games as manager and a blank record in four, a solid defense could be needed once more. Last week, Ferencvaros maintained their third clean sheet of the Europa League season, which is the team's best record since the UEFA Cup in 2002–03.
