UEFA Champions League

When an interested person goes to the official UEFA website and searches for information about the game Slavia Prague against the French LOSC Lille from the first day of October 2009, it jumps out: Lille took out the frustration on Slavia. No need to explain more. The 1:5 home loss upsets the red and white table.

In the autumn of 2009, the champion Slavia was still recovering from being kicked out of the Champions League, when they scored the fatal goal against the Moldovan Sheriff Tiraspol in Eden only in the period fixed. After that, they dealt with the dangerous Serbian Crvena Zvezda Belgrade and entered the basic group of the Europa League.

Representatives from strong leagues – Italian FC Genoa, French LOSC Lille and Spanish Valencia – were waiting for her. However, she was not afraid, the team of coach Karel Jarolím had the strength. “There were prominent people,” recalls defender David Hubáček. “And we knew football at the highest level,” recalls goalkeeper Martin Vaniak of Slavia first com -participation in the Champions League in 2007/2008.

Despite a 0:2 loss in Genoa, where the performance was not at all embarrassing, she was confident at home against Lille. “Filling a whole carton,” Tunisian legionnaire Hocine Raued used a French symbol to remind him of the duty to succeed at home.

The match did not develop in vain, already in the sixth minute the second Tunisian teammate Tijani Belaid converted a penalty kick after a foul on Zdeňko Šenkeřík. “Everything seemed fine,” Hubáček said.

The visitors equalized shortly after the break with an own goal by stopper Marek Suchý. “He sent down a sharp cross from the left, I couldn’t do anything,” Vaniak remembers the sad moment. “That shouldn’t have happened,” the coach Jarolím realized immediately.

The celebrants wanted to win, to “fill the box”. And they ran on. “It was a group, some unlucky goal that was conceded did not play a vital role, the points were important,” Hubáček apologizes for the attempted attack.

A high kick by the French keeper happened to fall through the home team’s defence, and new striker Pierre-Alain Frau beat the Slavic keeper in a superb strike. “He finished perfectly,” Vaniak admits of his opponent’s abilities.

But Slavia wanted to take points. And she still believed in herself, after all, it was not a worse team.

The final unsettled result was only introduced in the last five minutes. In the 85th minute, Ivory Coast’s Gervinho scored his first goal with a cross from the right Three minutes later, Arnaud Souquet went in from an almost identical action, and Gervinho completed the destruction of Slavia which allowed retire within the specified period. .

Complete demolition. “They scored in an empty net, all the way to the kitchen,” Vaniak shrugs his shoulders with a sense of helplessness. “Everything fell apart for us,” says Hubáček. we can pass, we lost balls, the opponent literally did whatever he wanted with us,” said the experienced and reliable defender, who played 33 duels for the Prague club on the big stage -land.

The case went down in Slavist history in black letters, five goals on home soil have never been celebrated by the players in the red and white combination on the European field. “In my career, I only scored five goals at home once – with Lille,” said goalkeeper Vaniak, nicknamed “The Wizard” for his excellent saves.

It was not possible to talk about a replay in the true sense of the word, the match on French soil came last in the group. In the meantime, Slavia collected three points for three draws, maintained the reputation of a mature team, but could not think of progress. Just to improve your image. And Lille also had something to give back.

The game was played in December and the winter weather had a big impact on it. “The day before the game, they didn’t let us go to the main stadium for training at all, we were preparing on the handball field,” goalkeeper Vaniak’s fingers tremble with this memory.

The frozen ground was changed to a normal shape by all means. “There was a tarp on the pitch and they blew hot air under it to reduce the frost a bit,” said Hubáček.

Slavia collapsed after a heroic performance of 1:3, they were hit by a financial crisis that almost led to the loss of a professional license and their transfer to an amateur status. She had to say goodbye to European competitions for several years …

Now she is experiencing a completely different time, a very enjoyable time, which she would like to decorate by participating in the luxurious society of the Champions League. However, the two-goal defeat against Lille puts that dream far away.

But the faith remains. “Slavia is strong at home, the players have international experience, they can erase the deficit,” said goalkeeper Vaniak. He sees great support in his successor between the three Poles, Antonín Kinski. “He is an excellent goalkeeper and will continue to mature,” he predicts a good future for him.

Even Hubáček does not include failure. “I saw Lille as a slight favorite in this double match, so 60: 40 for the French team,” he understands the quality of the opponent. “But anything can happen,” he says leaving room for surprises against a club that also has a Czech footprint.

About Czech representative and Euro 2004 bronze medalist in Portugal working in Lille defender David Rozehnalit is generally known. In two spells between 2010 – 2015, he made 111 appearances for the club in the French top flight, scoring two goals.

His predecessor Milan Röder (born June 5, 1919 in Prague) was a very interesting personality, who played in 17 games in the 1947/1948 season, scored five goals and participated in most in winning the French Cup.

And he also had a strong relationship with Slavia. “In the 20s of the last century, Josef’s father worked in Slavia as a team manager, today you could say as a team leader,” said the famous football historian Lubomír Král. forward, he also worked on the committee of the club, he also worked on the committee of the Czech Football Association for a few years, and in 1927 he even ran for the position of president, “he reveals interesting facts another.

However, he struggled for the position of main man in Czechoslovak football for Nuselský SK. “He had a small cartoning factory in Nuslí, making boxes and cardboard packaging, which he took over from Antonín’s father,” Král explains.

Son Milan played in the Czechoslovak top flight for SK Nusle in 1942/1943 (22/0) and AFK Bohemia in 1944–1947 (44/1). There is, however, a connection to Slavia through his father.