The last time Slovan Bratislava missed the Slovak Cup final, it was due to a bizarre administrative error.
It was in the 2018/19 season, when the Whites already finished in the 2nd round. Marin Ljubičič, who had previously played in the same phase of the competition for Dunajská Streda, also came on in the overtime, breaking the rules of the competition. Slovan lost by default 0:3, Horné Orešany advanced to the next round.
Since then, he has won the cup twice, this year he was determined to atone for the last two final losses against Trnava. He crashed already in the quarterfinals. He again ended up on the shield of the club from the village, this time saying goodbye to the competition after a poor performance on the field. Podbrezová triumphed at Tehelno poli 3:1.
news-item-description">The footballers of FK Železiarne Podbrezová completed the quartet of semifinalists of the Slovnaft Cup. In Wednesday’s quarter-final, they surprisingly won 3:1 against reigning champion and league leader ŠK Slovan Bratislava.
Weiss’s Assistant: I won’t make excuses
“Not a good performance from our side today. We created fewer chances, had poor movement and spoiled easy balls. I can’t say we don’t want to in some way. Today was weak, there was not one above-average performance,” assessed Boris Kitka, assistant to coach Vladimír Weiss, senior, for JOJ Šport.
The Slovan bench boss did not appear before the cameras. The assistant replaced him during the evaluation of the match during the telecast and later in the mixing zone in the bowels of the stadium.
Kitka summed up the failed meeting soberly, but critically: “Now we can’t be gentlemen, we have to accept it, we are professionals. We were relegated after not doing well, I won’t make excuses for that. We did not fulfill the task, we have to be self-critical.”
Slovan has not lost at home since September
He was only satisfied with the stretch between the 60th and 80th minute: “That was the only phase that resembled what we wanted to play. We were disappointed with our performance, we probably deservedly got eliminated.”
Slovan found conquerors in the Conference League, but lost at home for the first time since September 17! It came at the most inopportune moment. He can afford to hesitate in the league, he has a 16-point lead at the top of the table. The title is more or less certain, it was expected that he will concentrate all the more on winning the double.
“The fact that we have a lead can affect the team. We are people. Sometimes you make things easy, today football gave it back to us. Maybe we imagined it would be easier. Podbrezová turned it in her favor,” assessed Kitka.
David defeated Goliath
Slovan has the highest quality and most experienced staff in the league and the highest budget. Podbrezová’s team is the second youngest, only slightly older than Žilina’s. A club from such a small village had never played in the top competition before.
Podbrezová has only 3,500 inhabitants. If the entire village came to Tehelná pole, it would not fill even one sixth of it. The club’s budget is one of the lowest in the Nike League, 35 percent of the club’s shares are owned by Stanislav Lobotka. Slovan was the favorite in terms of odds of 1.3 – 9.85.
news-item-description">Slovan Bratislava is the clear favorite for Wednesday’s Slovnaft Cup quarter-final at home against Podbrezová. Slowly, one does not want to believe that the famous specifics of this competition will not bring some kind of plot.
Despite the sensational elimination, the assistant coach of Weiss did not make any hasty conclusions: “Losing is part of professionalism, you don’t need to see everything black now. That team plays a match every 3-4 days that it must win. I don’t think the players had a bad attitude. They have the right to have bad days.
In short, it was a performance that did not meet the parameters to be able to pass even an opponent like Podbrezová. We made it a little easier for them because we came very close to what we are capable of playing. You have to approach it normally.”
Slovan lacks a goal scorer
Slovan started in a strong composition. He was missing only Vladimír Weiss Jr., David Strelec and César Blackman. Since the departure of Aleksandar Čavrič in the winter, he has not had a typical finisher. In Friday’s league match in Ružomberok, midfielders Jaromír Zmrhal and Juraj Kucka were even active in the attack.
“Talking about whether someone has left or not… We don’t have that many alternatives upwards. Sometimes players alternate in unusual positions. Players who are not typical attackers reach the final stage. We saw it today too. (Gerson) Rodrigues suits us, he is not quite an end player,” said Kitka.
news-item-description">When he applied for Slovak citizenship as a Slovan Bratislava player in November 2022, he had no idea that the prime minister’s invitation to the national team would arrive at his Japanese address.
Podbrezová does some things better than Slovan
While Podbrezová cannot match Slovan in terms of budget, background or history, it does some things better than the most famous Slovak club. Trebárs has excellent scouting, he can move players and evaluate them. An example is the Polish defender Jakub Kiwior, today a player of the London Arsenal, whom Podbrezová advantageously acquired from Anderlecht.
The team is led by the ambitious Czech coach Roman Skuhravý, who was already interested in bigger clubs. He is staying in Podbrezová because of a working project. When his team went for victory in the September league match at Tehelno polí and finally lost 2:3, he said that Slovan will defeat them once in their strongest composition.
“Today is a big evening for us. I dare to say that we advanced deservedly. I am very happy to coach this team. We had a lot of changes, we are missing players, we are playing with young guys. Only such matches move us forward, it’s a huge doping for us,” he was looking forward to.
Podbrezová is in the semifinals of the Slovak Cup with Trnava, Ružomberok and the third-league sensation Lipani. He is fighting for the first trophy in the club’s history and his first participation in European cups. Coach Skuhravý is not afraid of this before Thursday’s semi-final draw: “Let anyone pass us. I would like Trnava.’
VIDEO: What did the elimination from the Conference League with Graz show Slovan, what is happening behind the scenes and what needs to change? Watch the interview with football expert Ladislav Borbély:
2024-03-14 04:45:00
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