Prague – In the home rematch of the 3rd preliminary round of the Champions League, the Sparta players lost to FC Copenhagen on penalties 2:4, as a result of the initial goalless draw, they were eliminated from the competition and will play in the final preliminary round of the Europa League. The match ended 1:1 in normal time and 3:3 after extra time. For promotion to the Europa League group, they will face the worse of the pair AEK Athens – Dinamo Zagreb, they are guaranteed at least participation in the European Conference League.
Jordan Larsson gave the guests the lead in the sold-out Letná after only 15 seconds of the game, Veljko Birmančevič equalized in the 80th minute. In overtime, only the substitutes made their mark. Sparta led twice thanks to Qazim Laci and Victor Olatunji, but Viktor Claesson responded each time.
In the penalty shootout, home captain Ladislav Krejčí and Asger Sörensen missed, on the contrary, Copenhagen did not make a mistake in any of the four attempts. The Danish team will compete with Raków Čenstochová for advancement to the main stage of the “millionaire” competition.
Sparta lost at least 8.63 million euros (roughly 208 million crowns) due to elimination. Five million euros (120.5 million crowns) would be earned by progressing to the final preliminary round of the LM and another 3.63 million euros (87.5 million crowns) for securing at least a Europa League group. However, he can still qualify for it.
Compared to the opening match in Copenhagen, the Prague team started with only one change in the line-up, Wiesner replaced Mejdro on the right side of the midfield. The clash between the reigning champions of their countries started with a shock for Sparta, as the visitors took the lead after 15 seconds of the game. Goncalves left Achúri’s pass to Larsson, who turned and opened the scoring with a shot from the edge of the box with the help of Panák’s flow into the counter movement of goalkeeper Vindahl.
The home team could have responded in the seventh minute, but captain Krejčí’s header from Asger Sörensen’s cross was blocked by goalkeeper Grabara, catching in a mask. Haraslín had the next chance, who caught a bad play by the visitors, dragged the ball through the middle of the field and fired just before the penalty area, but the Copenhagen goalkeeper made an impressive save to scrape the ball into the corner.
After almost half an hour of play, after a quick combination of Copenhagen, Goncalves got to the ball in the box, but it only headed into Vindahl’s gloves. A moment later, Haraslín got rid of his teammate from the Slovakian national team Vavra on the sideline and advanced from the side on his own to the goal, but Grabar was held back by Copenhagen again. At the end of the opening act, Sadílek from a similar position aimed only at the visiting goalkeeper.
At the start of the second half, Vindahl kept Sparta at bay when he reflexively deflected a shot from Larsson, who had latched on to Jelert’s shot pass. In the 53rd minute, Spartan Birmančevič made his way to the end, but Grabara again kicked the ball for a corner kick.
In the 56th minute, Krejčí pounced on Birmančevič’s cross from the corner and equalized with the rebound off the post. However, the video referee entered the game and referee Gözübüyük canceled Sparta’s goal due to Krejčí’s foul on Elyounoussi.
The disallowed goal obviously swayed the home team and dulled their pressure. In the 76th minute, Prague striker Olatunji took the ball away from Boilesen in a fight between two alternating players, but he failed in his attempt to hook Grabar.
Four minutes later, Sparta equalized. Birmančević penetrated from the left side right in front of the goal and shot through the Copenhagen defense, including Grabara. He scored his second competitive goal in the Letenský jersey. Shortly afterwards, in an electrifying atmosphere in front of 18,109 spectators, the home team looked for a turnaround, but Grabara scraped Krejčí’s header into the corner.
Extra time started cautiously, but in the 105th minute, Laci turned the score around with a beautiful shot into the top corner of the goal. However, the defending Danish champion managed to respond in the setting of the opening extra time, when Spartan Sörensen failed to spot Claesson. After that, a flare landed near the Prague substitutes and the main referee stopped the match for a while.
The home team took the lead back at the end of the second overtime after the substitutions. Minčev headed Peška’s cross into the post, but Olatunji managed to clear the crossbar despite the difficulties. Like Laci, he scored the first competitive goal for Sparta. But the visitors didn’t wait long for the equalizer again, Claesson ran onto Christian Sörensen’s cross and denied Vindahl a chance with a header in the 112th minute.
In the penalty shootout, the traditional Spartan executor Krejčí was the first to go, but hit the crossbar. Laci and Kairinen made their mark for the home team, but Asger Sörensen headed only to Grabara. However, many fans were unable to see the decisive moments of the match on TV due to O2TV signal outages.
Sparta did not beat Copenhagen even in the fourth game in the cups, and since the last promotion to the group of the Champions League in the 2005/06 season, they were eliminated in the qualification of the competition for the ninth time in a row. She finished in the preliminary rounds of the cups in six of the last seven cases.
Post-match votes:
Brian Priske (Sparta coach): “It is clear that we are disappointed and sad about the result. But we have to be proud of how we played the game, how we coped with different situations during the game. The penalty shootout is always 50 to 50, today unfortunately we did not manage to win on penalties . The team showed the mentality, I’m very proud of the boys, how they came back into the game after conceding a goal in the 16th second. From about the fifth minute we completely dominated. We created a lot of chances, we scored three goals. We were stopped by the keeper on several interventions. It was a big game and we were very close to progressing.”
Jacob Neestrup (Copenhagen coach): “You have to take the big picture from both games. We were a bit better in Copenhagen, today the home team was better than us. It was really small details that decided which team went on. The opponent can be proud of what they showed today , but I can also be proud of our team. Last season we were ten points behind in the Danish league and we won the title. Today we lost twice in extra time and I see the main reason why we went through in the end is that we were able to react each time and balance.”
Ladislav Krejci (Captain of Sparta): “It’s a big disappointment, you have goals in life that you want to achieve during your career. God knows when we’ll be lucky next time. But I’m proud of the whole team, the whole implementation team, what a journey they’ve come with us. We’ve shown our strength and teamwork, that we were able to equalize first and then we even took the lead twice in the match. Unfortunately, we did not manage to defend the set piece. But I am proud of the boys. Even though it is a qualification for the Champions League, no one was upset about it. Penalties are already a joke. Today, unfortunately, I he didn’t help the team. That’s part of sports, there are good times and bad times.”
Sparta Prague – FC Copenhagen 3:3 after extra time. (1:1, 0:1), on pen. 2:4
Goals: 80. Birmančević, 105. Laci, 107. Olatunji – 105.+3 and 112. Claesson, 1. Larsson. Penalties converted by: Laci, Kairinen – Diks, Claesson, Boilesen, Bardghji. Did not convert: Krejčí, A. Sörensen (both Sparta). Referees: Gözübüyük – Zeinstra, Balder – Higler (video, all Niz.). ŽK: Wiesner, Birmančevič, A. Sörensen, Friis (assistant coach) – Falk, Elyounoussi, Achúri. ČK: 88. Friis. Spectators: 18,019. First match: 0:0, Copenhagen advances.
Sparta: Vindahl – A. Sörensen, Panák (46. Vitík), Krejčí – Wiesner (77. Mejdr), Kairinen, Sadílek (89. Laci), Zelený – Birmančevič (94. Pešek), Haraslín (72. Olatunji) – Kuchta (94 . Minchev). Coach: Priske.
Copenhagen: Grabara – Jelert, Vavro (55. Boilesen), Diks, C. Sörensen – Elyounoussi (108. Bardghji), Goncalves (85. Clem), Falk (108. Óskarsson), Lerager, Achúri – Larsson (74. Claesson). Coach: Neestrup.
football Champions League Sparta Copenhagen 3rd preliminary round
2023-08-15 20:39:00
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