The Sparta footballers will face the second match in the basic group of the European League from 18:55 on Thursday. The people of Prague will present themselves at the stadium of the leader of the Italian league AC ACán and, as a week ago before the match with Lille, they have problems with the team, because coach Václav Kotal has only one healthy stopper left.
Sparta entered the basic group with a 1: 4 defeat to Lille, who was her first match since the beginning of October after the national team break and the subsequent interruption of the Czech league due to coronavirus. Even then, Kotal had problems with Marodka and midfielder Ladislav Krejčí Jr. had to start defending.
In the 23rd minute, however, he received a red card for a foul and the match for him on the stopper was completed for the first time in his life by midfielder David Pavelka. He could repeat his new role on San Sira, because besides the kicked-off Krejčí, Lukáš Štetina and Dávid Hancko are injured outside the game.
Dominik Plechatý and Ondřej Čelůstka also have health problems. According to Kotal, they could both get to San Siro in the end, but according to the Letna coach, the problem is in a small game practice. Plechatý and Čelůstka missed the match with Lille and last joined the national teams in mid-October.
“I assume that Ondra will start. But we had an outage, the Czech league is not played and we have one match behind Lille. And those who did not play last time for the national team. press video conference Kotal.
“Game practice is lacking because AC plays strongly, holds the ball and you do not set the atmosphere of the match during training,” said the Letna coach. “That’s why we told the players that we had to simplify the game, have a good choice of place and most importantly we have to deal with the opponent’s hardness, because they are very emphatic when attacking one on one,” he added.
Kotal, on the other hand, can count on the healed Ladislav Krejčí the Elder, who came to Letná in August after four years in Bologna. Čelůstka in Palermo also played in Serie A, Hancko in Sparta is a guest from Fiorentina and in 2012/13 forward Libor Kozák became the best scorer of the European League in the Lazia Řím jersey with eight goals.
In addition to a number of its own absences, Sparta can also be haunted by the form of AC Milan. The Rossoners have not lost in the new Serie A season yet and are leading the table with 13 points. Star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has scored seven goals in the last five games.
The home team will miss the usual goalkeeper number one Gianluigi Donnarumma, who has a coronavirus. In Monday’s league match with AS Roma he was replaced by Ciprian Tatarusanu, AC drew 3: 3 and lost points for the first time in Serie A. “After Zlatan, he is their greatest personality and it will be a great loss for them,” said Krejčí Sr.
“Ciprian has my full trust and the team trusts him. The players have to help each other, motivate each other and that’s exactly what they do,” said Milan coach Stefano Pioli on the club’s website. “Sparta won all six matches in the home league and she was still in the match against Lille even after the elimination. It will be a challenging opponent for us,” the coach added.
