Ferencvarosi add Celtic to list of Egyptian victims in Europa League win

Ferencvarosi continued their impressive record against teams featuring Egyptian players by beating Celtic 3-1 in the opening round of the Europa League league phase, with Egypt international Haytham Hassan starting for the Scottish side.

The Hungarian club had previously eliminated Trabzonspor, the team featuring Mohamed Salah, with a 5-0 aggregate victory in the competition’s play-off round. That result sent the Turkish side out of the Europa League.

Celtic were unable to recover after Ferencvarosi took control of the match at the Groupama Arena.

Yusuf Bamidele opened the scoring for the hosts in the 20th minute, finding the net with a long-range effort from outside the penalty area.

Celtic restored parity shortly before half-time. Mika Bauer finished first time from a low cross to make it 1-1 in the 44th minute.

However, Ferencvarosi regained the lead in first-half stoppage time. Kristoffer Zachariassen produced an excellent backheel finish in the opening minute of added time to put the home side back in front.

The Hungarian side extended their advantage just two minutes after the interval. Daniel Arzani curled a shot into the net from outside the area to make it 3-1 in the 47th minute.

Haytham Hassan, who had started the match, was substituted in the 57th minute, with Benjamin Nygren coming on in his place.

The change did not alter Celtic’s performance or the outcome. The tempo dropped as the match progressed, and Ferencvarosi saw out the remainder of the game to secure a three-goal-to-one victory.