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By Ebenezer Bajela.
Ferencvaros midfielder Anderson Esiti has expressed confidence his Hungarian side will overturn their first-leg Europa League defeat to progress to the quarter-finals of the competition.
The Green Eagles, as they are fondly called, suffered a 2-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie last Thursday.
The three-cap Nigeria international put in an impressive performance for Ferencvaros in the encounter, but it was not enough to prevent them from losing to the Germans at the BayArena.
With the return leg set to take place on Thursday, March 18, Ferencvaros will need to score at least two goals without conceding to have any chance of progressing to the next round.
The fans will be buoyed by Ferencvaros impressive performance at home this season, winning four of their last five home games in the Europa League. They will be hoping to continue that run and cause an upset against the Bundesliga side.
However, speaking ahead of the fixture, the 28-year-old Nigerian midfielder is counting on the fans to overturn the deficit at Puskás Aréna in Budapest.
“This was not the result we wanted; it was quite an intense match. We also showed that we can create situations against them, which we will have to do in a week,” said Esiti, as per Ulloi129.
“Our fans are always great, but you have to come to Budapest to experience what they are really like. Not all of them could be here now, but they will also be able to make the difference in the return match.”
The combative defensive midfielder has not played for the Super Eagles since September 2019 when he featured in the 2-2 stalemate against Ukraine in a friendly in Kiev.