Hoops manager Stephen Bradley hoping Ferencvaros familiarity aids Euro attempt

Stephen Bradley is looking forward to going head-to-head, once again, with renowned Hungarian side Ferencvaros in tonight's Europa Conference League encounter in Budapest.

The two sides met in last year’s Europa League with Ferencvaros progressing thanks to a 4-1 aggregate victory, while Rovers ended up making it through to the group stages of the Conference League.

Ferencvaros proved too much for the Hoops in the home leg of that game 12 months ago, however, Bradley’s side took the game to them in the return leg at Tallaght Stadium, and while the could not overturn the 4-0 first leg result, they did manage to beat the Hungarian side in the second leg.

The Budapest outfit went on to record wins over Trabzonspor, Monaco and Red Star Belgrade in their group before being eliminated by Bayer Leverkusen.

The two teams are looking to bounce back from their recent Champions League exit, and while the League of Ireland champions were disappointed to lose home and away to Icelandic side, Breidablik, it that competition, the manager said that there is no sense of anti-climax following the relegation, of sorts, to the lower prestige tournament.

"No none at all," said Bradley, when asked if he felt any sense of anti-climax to playing in the Europa Conference League at this stage of the summer.

"I think being successful in Europe and progressing is difficult, and there is a reason why. Only two clubs have done it in the past, it’s difficult to do.

"I can’t remember an Irish team going really deep in the Champions League so I don’t think it’s any sort of anti-climax, if anything, we are looking forward to trying to beat, as we would feel, a top team."

And the manager said that the players bring a wealth of European experience into tonight’s