Third home win in ten days | OneFootball

Goals from Can Uzun (49’) and Hugo Ekitiké (59’) earned Eintracht a comfortable 2-0 win over Ferencvárosi FC, leaving them on the brink of an automatic spot in the UEFA Europa League Round of 16.

Ekitiké’s close-range finish came just ten minutes after Uzun’s spectacular long-range drive had broken the deadlock, giving the Eagles a thoroughly deserved two-goal advantage early in the second half. Dino Toppmöller’s side had a penalty decision overturned not long afterwards, but Ferencváros rarely threatened to claw their way back into the contest.

Tuta starts

Tuta was handed his first start of 2025 in one of two changes to the Eintracht team that started Friday’s Bundesliga win over Borussia Dortmund. The Brazilian was preferred to Nnamdi Collins, while Uzun was also recalled in place of Nathaniel Brown, who is not registered for the league phase of the competition.

No way through

Ekitiké was twice denied by Ferencváros goalkeeper Denes Dibusz in a dominant opening from the Eagles, shooting straight at the Hungarian stopper from a tight angle before having another effort saved from the edge of the box after dispossessing Habib Maiga. Dibusz was forced off through injury shortly after the half-hour mark, with back-up keeper Adam Varga replacing the 34-year-old between the sticks.

Varga managed to divert Rasmus Kristensen’s rising shot into the side-netting, before Knauff sent a low drive straight into the goalkeeper’s arms from Mario Götze’s cutback. Uzun was next to try his luck as Eintracht pushed in vain for a breakthrough before half-time, firing over the crossbar after working the ball onto his right foot inside the penalty area.

Uzun lights the fuse

Ekitiké was thwarted again by Varga early in the second half, but Eintracht were ahead moments later when Uzun robbed the ball off Abu Fani before arrowing a fierce shot into the top corner, thereby becoming the Eagles’ second-youngest goalscorer in a major European competition. Ekitiké failed to get on the end of a low Kristensen cross not long after Uzun’s opener, but the Frenchman finally got the goal his performance warranted after Hugo Larsson’s shot was deflected into his path by Ibrahim Cisse.

Toppmöller’s charges thought they had been awarded a chance to make it 3-0 midway through the second half. Cisse was adjudged by referee Enea Jorgji to have blocked a close-range Ekitiké effort with his arm, but the Albanian official reversed the decision after being advised by VAR to consult his pitchside monitor. It mattered not, though, as the Eagles comfortably saw out the rest of the game to rise to second in the league phase standings and move a step closer to an automatic spot in the last 16.