PFC Ludogorets Razgrad in European football

Stoyanov

Tero Mäntylä

Moţi

Júnior Caiçara

Minev

Zlatinski

Dyakov

Alexandrov

Marcelinho

Misidjan

Bezjak

Ludogorets' 2013–14 UEFA Europa League lineup against Italian cup holders Lazio, which recorded a 1-0 win at the Stadio Olimpico.

As 2012–13 Bulgarian champions, Ludogorets qualified for the 2013–14 Champions League qualifying rounds where they entered the tournament from the second preliminary round. Ludogorets were drawn against Slovan Bratislava. In the first leg in Bratislava, they recorded a 1–2 loss against the Slovak champions, keeping poor chances to advance. Despite this, Ludogorets obtained their first victory in the UEFA Champions League, after a 3–0 thrashing against Slovan at the Ludogorets Arena in the return match. As they advanced to the next round, they were drawn against Serbian champions, Partizan Belgrade. After two wins of 2–1 in Razgrad and 1–0 in the second leg, they managed to qualify for the play-off stage, obtaining indirectly their very first qualification to the group stages of a European competition. The team was drawn against FC Basel, but lost 2–4 at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia. After a second 0–2 loss in Switzerland, Ludogorets were eliminated and transferred to the Europa League for the very first time in their history.

Ludogorets were drawn in Group B of the 2013–14 Europa League, against PSV Eindhoven, Dinamo Zagreb and Chornomorets Odessa. At their debut in the competition, Ludogorets won 2–0 at Eindhoven over PSV, obtaining their first European group stages victory. On matchday 2, Ludogorets won 3–0 against Dinamo Zagreb, in a replay match from their previous Champions League season clash. On matchday 3, Ludogorets again won 1–0 against Chornomorets Odessa, becoming the first Bulgarian team to begin their group stage participation in European tournaments with three consecutive wins without conceding any goal. On matchday 4, they dropped the only points in a 1–1 home draw with Chornomorets Odesa. On matchday 5, Ludogorets win 2-1 at Zagreb against Dinamo.[1] On the last matchday, Ludogorets again won 2–0 over PSV at Sofia and qualified for the round of 32 as group winners, with 16 points, being the only Bulgarian team undefeated in UEFA Europa League group stages. In the round of 32, Ludogorets were drawn against Italian cup holders, Lazio. In the first leg, held on Stadio Olimpico at Roma, Ludogorets won 1-0, with striker Roman Bezjak scoring the winning goal in a historic win. At Vasil Levski Stadium, Ludogorets hold Lazio in a 3–3 draw, after Lazio had a 2–0 lead, until Bezjak and Hristo Zlatinski scored for 2–2. Later, Lazio scored for 3–2, but Juninho Quixada scored the equaliser for a 4–3 aggregate win,.[2] In the round of 16, Ludogorets hosted Spanish team Valencia, but were defeated 0–3, suffering their first defeat in the UEFA Europa League. In the second leg at Mestalla Stadium, Ludogorets were again defeated 0–1 by Valencia and eliminated.[3]

In the 2014–15 Champions League, Ludogorets again won both their qualifiers, against F91 Dudelange of Luxembourg and Partizan Belgrade.[4][5] In the play-off they defeated Steaua București to reach the group stage for the first time.[6] Goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov was dismissed for a second yellow card in the last minute of extra time in the second leg, when Ludogorets had used all their substitutes. In the penalty shoot-out, centre-back Cosmin Moți, having converted the first penalty, went in goal and made two saves to put Ludogorets through 6–5 on penalties.[7]

Ludogorets and Steaua's starting line-ups during their play-off match of the UEFA Champions League.

Ludogorets made their debut in the 2014–15 Champions League group phase on 16 September 2014, grabbing a 1-1 equalizer away against Liverpool in the 90th minute scored by Dani Abalo, but in an eventual 1-2 loss,[8] as the newly signed goalkeeper Milan Borjan then gave away a penalty with a foul on Javi Manquillo, which Steven Gerrard converted to give Liverpool the victory.[9] Ludogorets made their home debut in the 2014–15 Champions League group phase on 1 October 2014, scoring a goal in the 6th minute through Ludogorets' attacking midfielder Marcelinho against the current Champions League champion Real Madrid, but in an eventual 1–2 loss.[10] In this game Cristiano Ronaldo took two penalties, with the first saved by the Ludogorets' goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov and the second converted into the goal for a 1-1 equalizer.[11] On 22 October 2014, Yordan Minev scored his first goal for Ludogorets, scoring a last-minute winning goal in a 1–0 home win over Basel in the group stage of the Champions League.[12] However, on matchday 4, Ludogorets were defeated 0-4 by Basel at St. Jakob-Park, suffering their worst defeat in the European competitions. On 26 November 2014, Dani Abalo scored in the 3rd minute and Georgi Terziev scored his first goal in the 88th minute, getting a 2–2 equalizer against Liverpool, in an eventual 2-2 draw.[13] On the last matchday, Ludogorets were beaten 0-4 at Santiago Bernabéu by Real Madrid, ending their UEFA Champions League adventure on the fourth place, with 4 points, becoming the first Bulgarian team to record points in that competition when they defeated Basel. This was also the first home win for a Bulgarian team in the UEFA Champions League, and was followed by a 2-2 home draw with Liverpool.

As of 27 February 2020

Most appearances for the club in European competitions Rank Name Career Appearances 1 Marcelinho 2011– 79 2 Svetoslav Dyakov 2011– 78 3 Cosmin Moți 2012– 76 4 Wanderson 2014– 63 5 Virgil Misidjan 2013–2018 50 6 Claudiu Keșerü 2015– 48 7 Anicet Abel 2014– 45 8 Vladislav Stoyanov 2013– 41 8 Cicinho 2015– 41 10 Jody Lukoki 2015– 40 10 Natanael 2015–2019 40

Most goals for the club in European competitions Rank Name Career Goals 1 Claudiu Keșerü 2015– 15 1 Wanderson 2014– 15 3 Marcelinho 2011– 14 4 Jakub Świerczok 2018– 11 5 Jody Lukoki 2015– 10 6 Roman Bezjak 2012–2015 8 7 Cosmin Moți 2012– 7 7 Virgil Misidjan 2013–2018 7 9 Dani Abalo 2013–2015 6 10 Jonathan Cafu 2015–2017 4

• Players in bold are still playing for Ludogorets.
• Players with 3 or more goals for Ludogorets in Europe are listed.
• Includes appearances in UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.