How do you feel in this position?
Of course it’s nice and it probably belongs to my age. I have a little more behind it than some active younger players. Of course, I’m glad I had the opportunity to try all the competitions. I take it positively and I’m happy about it, but it’s not that important. I couldn’t even do it alone. You always need a team and a club to be able to qualify for and play in these competitions.
Do you feel like a real veteran because of that?
As an older player, I have felt for a long time … On the other hand, one cannot think about it. We always talked about whether it makes sense to continue and it always had, so I still play. And there were a few competitions in front of me that I missed. For example, Intertoto or PVP, so I’m not that old again that I could handle all the competitions that UEFA organized. (Laughs)
Rada argued with Kozel. If the player shoots his hand, it is a clog, the Jablonec coach dug himself
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How did teammates in the cabin react to this uniqueness?
The boys know me and know that I don’t experience these things much. Rather, they came across what I would put in the cabin for it. Someone mentioned that when it comes to four competitions, it should be four times. (laughs) The guys get something, but now the program is busy, so probably in the repre pause.
Chris Smalling and Vágner Love have experienced all four competitions like you and you played against both of them.
I definitely met Vágner Lov several times, because CSKA and I also played in preparation or in tournaments. And I met Chris Smalling when Shakhtar and I played with Manchester United. But we don’t know each other personally, we are not in contact, we did not congratulate each other. (smiles). Vágner and I are similarly old, but Chris Smalling is younger.
He is 31 years old.
So he’s almost ten years younger. It’s nice that at such an age he managed all the competitions. At our age, we have nothing else left. (Laughs). In that case, he started about early. But it’s also about happiness. If he was on a team that only plays the Champions League, he would never know the European League, for example.
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Tomáš Hübschman is one of the most experienced players in the league
Vlastimil Vacek, Right
Do you remember your first cup match?
In Bayern Munich still at the old Olympic Stadium. Sparta and I played 0: 0.
Coincidentally, it’s been almost exactly twenty years. Doesn’t that sound like an eternity to you now?
Well no. It escaped very quickly. Looking back, I wouldn’t even say it’s been twenty years. That time flies terribly. There are only memories left. And sometimes not. (smiles)
You have played 126 matches in the European Cups. Are you left with any stadium you wanted to play at and haven’t been lucky yet?
I dreamed of playing in Barcelona, which I did with Shakhtar in the Champions League. My grandfather had the opportunity to be there at one match and brought me some souvenirs and photos. I was very happy about it. I also remember Sparta in Barcelona in a memorable match between Lumír Master and maybe the whole club. So if we’re talking about some favorite clubs, Barcelona is one of them and I wanted to play at Nou Camp. But otherwise I no longer had any dreams. I like when the atmosphere is good, people enjoy football, they don’t solve their opponents and rather focus on cheering on their own team.
Executioner Jablonec throws himself into the construction industry. Few people want to do it with their hands now, explains Hadaščok
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If you also carried souvenirs, you must have a lot of them at home. How is it?
I definitely brought something sometime, but more so only if someone said something about collecting it and wanted to get it. I’m not the type to buy an opponent’s souvenirs. I rather brought gifts to the family, which were not even related to football, but rather to the city, the region and the like.
Which match out of the 126 do you remember the most?
There are many of them and some order cannot be done. Of course, I will never forget the first one. At least I hope, because in ten years I don’t have to know what time it is and what I had for breakfast … (smiles) An interesting match was the Super Cup in Monaco (with Barcelona in 2009, 0: 1 after extra time). It was an interesting long match, albeit with a bad ending for us. I think it’s still quite a business card for us that we managed to last 0-0. Then, for example, a slightly surprising victory in Barcelona. For a lot of matches with Sparta, at home with Real or Lazio, when Mára Kincl scored a progressive goal in the 93rd minute. And since Shakhtar was playing with Inter now, they reminded me of the match in 2005, when we played with him in the preliminary round of the Champions League and they had a closed stadium. At home we lost 0: 2, but there they drew 1: 1. I remember forward Adrian or Recob, they had a lot of interesting players.
Do your teammates in the Jablonec cabin often ask you what you experienced, who did you play against?
I would say at all! (Laughs). As ever, sometimes someone asks if I played there or there, I’ll be happy to tell them, but not by myself. I’m no narrator. I don’t want it to look like I played there, there and there. That’s not my style.
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Tomáš Hübschman from Jablonec and coach Petr Rada during the match in Pilsen.
Vlastimil Vacek, Right
Did you play in Alkmaar?
He was still playing in the old stadium. (UEFA Cup 2005)
What match awaits Jablonec there?
To be honest, I’m curious too. In my eyes, the opponent is thanks to his experience and how he has been the group’s favorite for a long time. In addition to Ajax, Eindhoven and Feyenoord, he belongs to the top of the Dutch league. But this year it is not complete glory from them and we are very similar. At least in the league. We started a little better in the Conference League than they did, but we played outside again. I don’t think their current twelfth place in the league is telling and they will go up in the table over time.
After winning over the strong Kluží, you lead the group, have your ambitions for progress strengthened?
The match with Kluží was definitely good from us in the first half. We had two, maybe three nice options. Paradoxically, after our goal and the exclusion of their player, we hid more, but the important thing is that we brought the match to a victorious end. Otherwise, ambitions may not be needed at the beginning. We will try to score some points in each match, the more, the better, and after two or three matches we will see if there are any chances to advance. So far, one victory solves nothing. We still have five matches ahead of us and the table can get tangled in all sorts of ways.
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