“When we arrived at Ferencváros it was unreal to think of Europe”

He lost the hegemony of football in Hungary, went through a financial crisis and even dropped to Second. Since their last appearance in the Champions League group stage in the 1995/96 season, Ferencváros have suffered from the unseemly of a giant. 25 years without savoring the maximum continental competition is too much. That is why Budapest woke up today more radiant than ever. After overcoming four previous rounds, Fradi will return to the top continental competition. And he will do it with two Spaniards in his coaching staff: Albert Bosch Y Unai Melgosa. “We have defeated the Swedish champion, Djurgarden; the Scottish champion, Celtic; the Croatian champion, Dinamo Zagreb, and the Norwegian champion, Molde. Everyone is euphoric. It has been difficult for me to fall asleep”, details Bosch, who arrived at the green eagles in 2018 from Sergiy Rebrov, whom, like Melgosa, he met during his time at Dinamo Kiev.

The last Hungarian entity that managed to rub shoulders with the best in Europe was Debrecen. And that has been more than a decade. “When we got to Ferencváros it was unreal to think of Europe. The club had only won two of the last fifteen leagues and the first thing to do was win back the domestic championship. We did it and, although we thought we were not prepared, last year we were close to entering the Champions League. This year we had a spectacular qualifying round. The players have given 150% of their capacity and we have fulfilled the dream of entering the Champions League. Everyone wanted it, but no one expected it. Failure to do so would not have been a disappointment “, confesses Albert Bosch.

“For Hungary, having a club back in the Champions League is super important,” adds the Catalan, who confesses to having suffered during the final tie against Molde: “The two games were very even, but if we ended up winning it is because we did something else than the rival. ” After qualifying, which took place without the heat of the public and thanks to the three goals that Fradi achieved in Norway, players and coaching staff went out to celebrate the victory on the outskirts of the stadium, where a giant screen brought together thousands of fans who could not enter the Groupama Arena: “During the game you could already hear them cheer. When we got out it was amazing. After being with them, the players continued to celebrate in a box. The coaches went home early. “

In the eleven of the Ferencváros that was imposed on Molde there was four Hungarians, two Ukrainians, a Slovenian, a German, a Norwegian, a Brazilian and an Albanian. “We look like the UN”, jokes Albert Bosch, who hopes that all his players will revalue during the group stage of the Champions League. The Spaniard believes that “anyone will want to play against Ferencváros” and has no preference for the draw, although he does would you like to travel to Barcelona “because then at least I can see the family.” And although he is probably living the most important day of his still short career on the bench, Bosch still has time to remember his new “greatest rival”: “I hope the MOL Fehervar Get a place in the group stage of the Europa League. It would be positive for Hungarian football. “That is still up in the air, the certainty is that the Champions League anthem will play again in Budapest.