He has not played a competitive game in over a year due to injury, he will turn 32 in January, but left-back Jan Bořil is hopeful of a return to action. And especially during his recovery, he remembers the brace against Sevilla in the round of 16 of the 2018/19 Europa League.
Slavia reached the round of 16 of the Europa League by beating Belgian Genk. After a goalless draw at home in the second game, they lost due to a mistake by Ondřej Kolář, but Vladimír Coufal started a 4:1 with a goal at 1:1, in which Milan Škoda was the hero principal.
The doubleheader with Sevilla was full of twists. The home team led twice in Spain and the home team led twice in Prague. In the end it went to extra time, in which Sevilla prevailed thanks to the goal rule on the opponent’s pitch. Ibrahim Traoré scored in extra time.
“I still remember looking in the stands after the game and seeing people crying with happiness. In doing so, clearing the entire competition of the path of the favourites, a team that has won it six times, can probably only happen once once in a lifetime. They thought they were going to hit us like a steamroller, but they were so wrong.” said for club website Jan Borile.
Sišiva’s side also came with a great deal of luck against Sevilla, which was essential for a winger to succeed. The first away goal was scored by a defender, in the second case Alex Král had no idea that he had placed the ball behind Tomáš Vaclík’s back with his shoulder.
And it was probably fate. When it looked like Slavia were about to finish, in a confusing situation the ball rebounded into the net after Jaromír Zmrhal’s free kick. He leapt over the leg of a confused Simon Kjaer as cameras gave him enough time to kick away.
“When Ibra Traoré scored that dirty goal in the last minute and the whole bench ran onto the pitch to celebrate, I have to admit that for the first time in my life I was on the edge of football.” continued one of the Slavia captains.
When Sevilla made it 3-2 after extra time, some Slav fans left the stadium. In their defence, some of them had the last train, because the game started at 21:00. And they lost a lot.
When the red-and-whites turned the score 4:3, once-in-a-lifetime emotions erupted in the stadium. The stadium screamed for maybe three minutes and the players and execution team ran to the cauldron. “It’s not possible,” echoed from the stands, and more than one home fan shed a tear.
“I have this match at the top of my list, but it’s true that people remind me much more of the goal in the Champions League preliminary round against Cluj, and especially in the group stage against Barcelona.” Boril added.
Source: SK Slavia Prague
