“If you really want to go through hell and free the princess, you must not even once get scared, startled, or get out of the way, no matter what happens.”
–
This is how, I suspect, the magical grandmother instructed the brave blacksmith Mikeš. And it couldn’t have been much different from the advice that coach Jindřich Trpišovský gave goalkeeper Aleš Mandous and his teammates before the match in Athens.
–
If this Slavist cup season ended in a truly fairytale way, it could culminate in the final match of the Conference League at its own stadium in Prague’s Eden. And this path is still open. That vision may sound bold, but it is not impossible.
–
What is important to say: This door could easily have slammed against Slavia already on Thursday in Athens. But she was helped in the very beginning by luck, which leaned Šporar’s shot against the post. And then also the hero Aleš Mandous.
–
Not only did he cover several difficult shots and, with excellent reading of the game, he was able to repeatedly fly out of the goal and steal the ball from under the hooves of the infernal three-seater that was coming at him every now and then.
–
However, he was also able to maintain concentration in conditions that coaches describe as a specific environment and journalists or fans as total hell.
–
“You mustn’t look left or right, no matter what happens, do you understand?” the fairy grandmother would continue. “Even if the fiftieth beer flew at you, one lighter after another would whiz around your head, you would still only hear the roar of hell, the angry devils in the stands. Don’t panic, even if the laser dazzles you,” coach Trpišovský could take over the mental preparation from his grandmother.
–
Reading about it or seeing it on TV is a different song than experiencing it all, especially as a goalkeeper, in the Panathinaikos stadium in Athens in a heated match for everything.
–
After all, you need something for that. Experience, character, inner strength, help from teammates and a bit of luck too. Aleš Mandous managed all this on Thursday and brought the Slavic princess through the nine circles of hell back to the world in good health and freed her.
–
In Nekmíř, the 525 inhabitants of this village in the Pilsen Region could be satisfied with their native.
–
Getting such a tough opponent as Panathinaikos already in the 3rd preliminary round of the Conference League is in a way an anomaly. It was given by the fact that this famous Athenian club went through a crisis in the last five years, when it stood completely outside the European Cup.
–
His economic and sporting strength is clearly returning to him. But Slavia was able to prevent him from making a real breakthrough on the European scene. She won 2:0 at home (more here), but it was far from over, the opponent did not even consider the game over.
–
Fortunately, when the home Sporar opened the scoring in the 58th minute of the rematch, it did not lead to further intensification of Athenian turbo football. Fortunately, his engine was already overloaded with the previous high revs so much that he had to downshift a bit. However, the skillful tactical work of Prague’s opponent also contributed to this.
–
The players from the bench, whom Trpišovský started to send onto the field, were able to better hold the ball in the middle of the field and thus dull other Athenian threats. The strength of the Slavist bench was also shown at the very end, when Jureček’s consistent attack on the opponent’s play paid off and a skillful finish at 1:1 decided the finalists.
–
“If you want to go all the way to the group now, you must not underestimate Raków Czestochowa either,” the magical grandmother would still advise the Slavists.
–
The cup qualifiers are coming to an end. Viktoria Plzeň plays Karabakh on Wednesday in Azerbaijan and there is nothing less at stake than promotion to the Champions League.
–
Slavia plays the first match against Raków on Thursday in Poland. And the Slovácko team also moved to the playoffs of the Conference League after the failure in the battle with Fenerbahce. He will welcome guests from AIK Stockholm to his stadium. And a week later, there will be rematches.
–
Let’s believe that these sometimes fairy tales are far from over.
—
