Mohamed Salah and Trabzonspor bid farewell to the UEFA Europa League after the Turkish side suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat against hosts Ferencváros, with the difficult night culminating in manager Fatih Tekke announcing his resignation.
Trabzonspor had lost the first leg at home 1-0 but arrived in Budapest hoping to turn the tie around—especially following Salah’s stellar performance, where his double led the team to a 2-1 victory over Başakşehir in the Turkish Süper Lig. However, the second leg took a completely different turn.
The collapse began early after Ruslan Malinovskyi was shown a red card in the 13th minute for a heavy challenge. The hosts capitalized on the numerical advantage, with Callum O’Dowda opening the scoring in the 19th minute, while the visitors struggled to build any attacking momentum to get back into the match.
Marius Corbu doubled the lead in the 54th minute before Cédric Kipré picked up a second yellow card three minutes later, leaving Trabzonspor with nine men. Bamidele Yusuf added a third goal, and Krisztián Lisztes capped off the four-goal rout, securing a 5-0 aggregate victory.
Mohamed Salah started the match but found himself isolated up front following the early sending-off and his team’s forced retreat. He failed to score or assist before Fatih Tekke substituted him after the third goal—a decision that reflected the coaching staff’s surrender to the impossible comeback and a move to protect their star player in a practically settled tie.
Following the final whistle, Fatih Tekke announced his resignation as Trabzonspor manager during his interview with the host broadcaster, taking full responsibility for the painful exit and leaving the club needing to address its technical staff situation swiftly.
The defeat does not mark the end of Salah’s European campaign, as Trabzonspor drops directly into the UEFA Conference League league phase, awaiting their six opponents in the August 28 draw. Their next match will be against Amedspor on Monday, August 31, in the Turkish Süper Lig, which they will enter under interim leadership following Tekke’s resignation.
