Sparta began the Czech leagues journey through Europe with an easy result in Champions League qualifying today beating Estonian side Levadia Talinn 7 - 0 in the first leg. David Lafata had 5 goals (was originally credited with 6, but 1 was later determined an own-goal. The last 2 seasons have greatly improved the Czech Country Coefficient, we enter the season safely in 14th and well positioned to challenge Greece, Turkey, and Switzerland with another good season.
Europa League Second Qualifying Round 1st Leg Kosice 0 - Slovan Liberec 1 Mlada Boleslav 2 - Siroki Brijeg 1 Liberec are in a fairly good position to advance, Ml Bolselav are favored but they did concede an away goal.
2nd Leg results: Slovan Liberec 3 - Kosice 0 Soriki Brijeg 0 - Mlada Boleslav 4 All Czech teams still alive, next round. Champions League Sparta Praha vs Malmo FC Europa League Mlada Boleslav vs Olympique Lyonnais Slovan Liberec vs Astra Giurgiu Viktoria Plzen vs Petrolul Ploiesti I would say Sparta and Plzen are heavy favorites, Liberec are slight favorites, and Mlada Boleslav are heavy underdogs.
CL qualifying 1st leg: Sparta Praha 4 - Malmo FF 2 Sparta started slow, but took over in the 2nd half. Lafata scored a hat trick, he has 8 goals so far in the champions league qualifying.
Sparta salvaged a near disastrous European season for Czech teams into one that is simply underwhelming by defeating Zwolle to earn entry into Europa League. They also got a very good group for them. Napoli Sparta Young Boys Slovan Bratislava
Sparta Prague 3 - 0 Slovan Bratislava ( 56 - Lafata, 61 - Konate, 82 - Krejci ) Well, Sparta won and are tied for first in the group with Napoli losing to Young boys. Although, all the talk has been about the events that transpired just before the half when a brawl erupted in a rather empty stadium between the Slovan and Sparta fans. To be honest, I was expecting something might happen but not to this extent. I haven't seen much video footage yet (just photos), but apparently the Slovan fans went near the Sparta sector and started teasing them which didn't sit well with a few Sparta supporters who ended up breaking down a barricade to attack Slovan fans while chaos ensued. Luckily, for Sparta, the match was only suspended for a period of time and not abandoned. It'll be interesting whether UEFA take action, and if so, how severe the punishment will be.
From everything I read it seems like the response by security was pitiful, it's a small stadium that was half-empty. The moment people started leaving their section the security should have put a stop to it, but instead it took several minutes for them to react.
The set up was also terrible. To have two ultra groups, that have prior history, sit on the same side of the stadium is ridiculous. Not surprised either by how cowardly Sparta fans acted by chasing civilized Slovan fans but then running when their ultras came to fight. When does UEFA come out with the verdict for these two teams? They've been quite busy as of late having to deal with Serbia - Albania and also Everton - Lille.
Sparta have been fined 80,000 euros while Slovan have been fined only 50,000 euros. Additionally, Sparta will have to play a home match behind closed doors if they cause more trouble in the next two years. I was expecting the heavy fines, but I'm quite surprised that Slovan got let off the hook with their punishment despite completely failing to organize the match properly.
Guess it's time to start following this again as Ml. Boleslav are already playing in Europa League qualification round 2. They go to Stromgodset (Norway) next Thursday trailing 1-2 from the first leg. The winner will take on either Hajduk Split or Koper in round 3. Also in Europa League Round 3: Jablonec is awaiting the winner of Copenhagen - Newton (2-0 after first leg) Liberec will play Ironi Kiryat Shmona starting 30 July For Champions League: Sparta Praha will play CSKA Moscow in the 3rd qualifying round for the league route Viktoria Plzen awaits the winner of Hibernians (Malta) and Maccabi Tel Aviv (2-1 after first leg) in the Champions Route I figured no need to start a new thread for this season
Today was a bad day for Czech clubs: Sparta Praha 2:3 CSKA Moscow (2:2 first leg, 4:5 aggregate, CSKA Moscow scored the winning goal after Sparta Praha got a straight red card in the 64th minute) Viktoria Plzen 0:2 Maccabi Tel Aviv (2:1 first leg, 2:3 aggregate) Maccabi Tel Aviv scored in the 76th and 83rd minutes to advance. Both Czech clubs were eliminated at home after a win or draw away. In the Europa League tomorrow, Liberec will play Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona in another game between a Czech club and an Israeli club.
Liberec - Ironi Kiryat (5-1 on aggregate) Jablonec - FC Copenhagen (3-3 on aggregate, Jablonec advance on away goals) A much better day for Czech clubs in Europe after the disappointing results from Sparta (typical them) and Plzen yesterday. There are now four Czech teams entering the Europa League play-off round. The draw is tomorrow with Sparta, Plzen, and Liberec being seeded, while Jablonec could face a tough opponent being an unseeded team.
Plzen were a colossal disappointment in the 2nd leg, Sparta only seems disappointing because of how they started but CSKA were always the favored side. Both teams should (and quite possibly will) sack their managers for the respective 2nd halves yesterday... especially Sparta for sticking with the 3-5-2 when the momentum changed and they were protecting a lead. 4 teams in Europa League would lessen the financial loss of no team in Champions League (and more easily distribute resources), interesting to see.
Sparta 3 - Thun 1 Plzen 3 - Vojvodina 0 Liberec 1 - Hajduk Split 0 Ajax 1- Jablonec 0 Fairly good day in Europa League.
And another one today: Vojvodina 0 - Plzen 2 (0-5) Thun 3 - Sparta 3 (4-6) Hajduk Split 0 - Liberec 1 (0-2) Jablonec 0 - Ajax 0 (0-1) 3 teams in the group stages helps salvage the champions league qualification debacle a bit. Jablonec actually missed a penalty and had a man advantage late, but couldn't capitalize. Plzen is in seeding pot 2, Sparta and Liberec are in pot 3 although. Drawing of groups is tomorrow.
Viktoria Plzen is in Group E with Villarreal, Rapid Wien, and Dinamo Minsk. Slovan Liberec is in Group F with Marseille, Braga, and Groningen. Sparta Prague is in Group K with Schalke 04, APOEL Nicosia, and Asteras Tripoli.
Not bad draws overall, I think all teams have a chance to advance (although Liberec's path is toughest) by likelihood I would rank them: Sparta, Plzen, Liberec.
Solid day for Czech sides in Europa League. Big result for Liberec today getting 3 points in Marseilles. Sparta won easily 2-0 vs APOEL, they could easily have scored 2 or 3 more from what I saw. Plzen were outmatched at Villareal losing 0-1.
The doubleheader matches begin in the Europa League today. Sparta are away to Schalke, Plzen will make the trip to Vienna to play Rapid Wien, and Liberec will host Groningen.
Schalke 2:2 Sparta Liberec 1:1 Groningen Rapid Wien 3:2 Plzen Meh. Aside from Sparta, I'm not happy with results today. Liberec got screwed by a last second penalty to be held to just a point, although that win in Marseille looks pretty good right now. I thought Plzen were very poor today, though they still could have got something from this match had they not conceded such weak goals.
Sparta is the only Czech club to survive the group stage of the Europa League, and got a good draw this morning against FC Krasnodar. Hopefully they can put together a run as that would be very much helpful for the national team. In addition, they've already made a move in acquiring Mazuch on a free transfer, and I'd expect to see a few other changes to their roster come next year. I do think Mazuch will be a huge boost for them in Europe and in the league. Though he missed the entire year due to a knee injury, he should stabilize what has been a shaky back line upon his return in the new year. However, Plzen's early exit was very disappointing given their form in the league over the last few months. I think the biggest positive has to be the improvement of young players like Baranek and Mateju towards the latter parts of the year, which should (hopefully) mean that the two individuals benched in their favour are shown the door this winter (one of which should probably just retire from football).
Hard to believe, but early qualifying rounds are already being decided for Champions League and Europa League. Slavia will be the first Czech side to play in Europe this year (next month), as they await either Levadia Talinn (Estonia) or Torshavn (Faroe Islands) in the 2nd round of qualifying. Should be an easy hurdle for a resurgent Slavia. Hard to make sweeping statements until the draws are made, but this should in theory be a fairly doable qualification run in Europe as both Plzen and Sparta are seeded in 3rd round of Champions League qualifying, while Liberec and Ml. Boleslav are also seeded in Europa League 3rd Qualifying round. Hoping for 2 in CL and 2 in EL, though 1 and 3 would also be good showing.
I think Champions League football is a must for Sparta. Even with the possible departures of Brabec, Krejci, and Schick, there's plenty of depth in each position and loads of talent within the team. For once I can say that I'm somewhat excited to watch them in the league this season. I do have a few doubts about Plzen in Europe. Defensively there are no issues, as seen by their incredible record throughout the second half of last season. Though once again they lack a true DM in the squad, which they've managed to overcome for years, but that's an aspect needed to make any sort of run in Europe. Their forward options wouldn't be that inspiring either if Duris leaves. I have no doubt they'll find themselves in a competition, but they should be aiming to advance from the group stage at this point.