In the 12th round of the first league, Sparta’s footballers defeated Liberec 2:1 at home and won the top competition after two defeats. The people of Prague soon took the lead thanks to Tomáš Wiesner‘s goal, Marios Purzitidis equalized after the change of sides, but substitute Lukáš Haraslín gave the defending champions a win in the 79th minute.
Sparta, from the second place in the table, loses three points to the leading city rival Slavia, but Vršovičtí have Sunday’s match in Jablonec to look forward to. The charges of Danish coach Lars Friis were in a winning mood for Wednesday’s Champions League match at Manchester City’s stadium. Slovan was unable to correct the previous home debacle 0:5 in the Podještěd derby with Jablonec and won only one of the last six rounds. He is tenth in the incomplete table.
“We had to get back on the winning track after those losses, that’s why the win from today’s game is the most important thing. We put some players on the bench because they lacked energy after the international break. The priority was to put it together to win,” he said Friis at a press conference.
Sparta’s traditional attacking trio Birmančevič, Olatunji, Haraslín replaced Krasniqi, Rrahmani and Tuci in the starting line-up, Preciado also left the starting eleven after the international break. The home team had a good start and took the lead in the eighth minute. Ryneš crossed to the back post and Wiesner beat Bačkovski with his head. He hit in the league for the first time since last September.
“Ryny and I know that the other one closes the space on the other side. Ryny saw me very well. I like this, closing the back post like that. I also managed to finish well, Ryny did well with the cross,” said Wiesner.
In the next 10 minutes, Ryneš could have increased the score, who, after a mistake by Halinský, advanced alone to the goal, but did not lob the running Bačkovský. Letenští did not create another chance in the first half, Slovan did not threaten the home goal at all.
Immediately at the end of the second half, Wiesner almost added the second goal for the home team with his head, but Bačkovský pulled the ball over. In the 52nd minute, the guests also threatened the goal for the first time. Tupta caught Wiesner’s back pass, but from the angle he was not mature enough for the goalkeeper Vindahl. After an hour of play on the opposite side, Ryneš shot over from a turn.
In the 63rd minute, the North Bohemians equalized. Stopper Panák directed Halinský’s pass only to Purzitidis, who finished it exactly at the back post. The video referee then reviewed for three minutes whether the ball had already left the field of play before, the goal was eventually awarded. The Greek defender scored his first goal in the Czech top flight since May.
“I spoke to Halim (Halinsky). He told me that maybe it was an out. He saw it that way, but in the end probably not well. I saw the ball so that it was on the line. I don’t know if it was half over. That’s probably VAR ( the video referee) saw better. I was happy at that moment when I got the ball into the net,” said Purzitidis.
But Sparta did not allow the third home loss in the league in a row and decided in the 79th minute after the action of two incoming players from the bench. With a penetrating pass, Suchomel found Haraslín on the front post and he shot past Bačkovský after less than three minutes on the turf. With his fourth goal in the league season, the Slovakian representative became the leader of the team’s top scorers.
“Representational duties took a lot of strength from him, in addition, he was fighting an illness during the week. He was not ready to start from the beginning. But he played an important role. He scored the winning goal, even though he started in midfield, which is not his usual position,” said Friis.
Prague lost only one of the last 10 mutual league duels and defeated Liberec four times in a row in the top competition. Slovan lost the third of the last four matches away from home in the league.
“We equalized at 1:1 and we were reaching for a point here, it would have been beautiful. In the end we lost the match. Šulo (Haraslín) did a great job. It’s a shame because we might have deserved a point here. From the performance and the way we reacted to Jablonec, we will only take the positives,” said Liberec coach Radoslav Kováč, who played for Sparta and worked as an assistant coach there.
Sparta Prague – Slovan Liberec 2:1 (1:0)
Goals: 8. Wiesner, 79. Haraslín – 63. Purzitidis. Referee: Starý – Hájek, Slavíček – Kocourek (video). ŽK: Birmančevič, Olatunji, Friis (coach) – Višinský, Zyba, Purzitidis, Preisler. Spectators: 16,746.
Sparta: Vindahl – Sörensen, Panák, Zelený – Wiesner (66. Suchomel), Kairinen, Sadílek (76. Olatunji), Ryneš – Krasniqi (76. Haraslín), Tuci (46. Birmančevič) – Rrahmani (83. Solbakken). Coach: Friis.
Liberec: Bačkovský – Halinský, Mikula, Purzitidis – Ghali (56. Icha), Zyba (82. Varfolomejev), Hlavatý, Kayondo (56. Preisler) – Višinský (63. Nyarko), Eneme (63. Letenay) – Tupta. Coach: Kováč.
1. Slavia 10 9 1 0 22:2 28 2. Sparta 11 8 1 2 23:12 25 3. Pilsen 11 7 3 1 21:8 24 4. Ostrava 11 5 3 3 13:11 18 5. Olomouc 11 5 3 3 18:17 18 6. Jablonec nad Nisou 10 5 2 3 14:5 17 7. Slovácko 10 4 4 2 8:9 16 8. Hradec Králové 11 4 2 5 9:10 14 9. Mladá Boleslav 10 3 3 4 15 :13 12 10. Liberec 11 3 3 5 16:18 12 11. Bohemians 1905 10 3 3 4 11:14 12 12. Karviná 10 3 3 4 8:13 12 13. Dukla 11 3 2 6 10:16 11 14. Teplice 10 2 1 7 11:19 7 15. Pardubice 11 2 1 8 9:18 7 16. České Budějovice 10 0 1 9 2:25 1
