How did Thursday’s opponents Sparta and Slavia do at the weekend?

Sparta, Slavia and Jablonec will play their fourth European Cup matches on Thursday. Randers will have a dress rehearsal on Sunday, but Sparta and Slavia have already played their weekend matches. How did they do?

Sparta face their second game in a fortnight against Lyon on Thursday. The first one was unlucky to lose 3:4, although the Lithuanians were still leading 2:0 in the 40th minute. But now they go to the stadium of their opponents.

Lyon tuned up for Sparta with a 2:1 win over Lens, who were unexpectedly second in the table before this round. Three points for the favourite and a move to fifth place in the table was decided by Houssem Aouar.

Lyon started with the strongest possible line-up, which clearly indicates that success on the league stage is a priority for them this season. We’ll see what line-up they field on Thursday, but some rotation is to be expected.

Slavia have a lot to give back to Maccabi Haifa, as they lost 1-0 in Israel and dropped to third place in the table. However, the Susians have been much better at home in the long term, and have not lost in Eden yet this year.

Maccabi did not have an ideal attitude for the important match. They only drew 2:2 at Ashdod and are already four points behind first-placed Beer Sheva. The loss hurts all the more because Ashdod is second to last in the table.

Maccabi also fielded a line-up very similar to the one that robbed Slavia of points.

Source: Ligue 1