We want to gain experience, which means to advance to the spring, says Vrba after the loss to Rangers

Sparta lost to Rangers 0:2 and will only have to play the last group match against Brondby in the Europa League this season. How did the coach Pavel Vrba see the unsuccessful match and how he has to swallow another unpleasant defeat?

Sparta went into the Glasgow game after an ugly defeat at Slovácko, which seemed to have a significant impact on a lukewarm start after which Sparta could have scored several goals.

In the end they received only one and the game was open, but the performance of the team from Letná was not good enough to deserve a comparison.

The nail in the coffin was finally hammered by Filip Panák, who gave Rangers their second goal. Sparta then failed to score despite their chances and will not play in the Europa League this spring.

“I am disappointed, of course. Mainly because we wanted to play until the last round for the Europa League. We didn’t manage to do that. On the other hand, I think we gave the second goal to the home team. When we could have made the game more dramatic, we didn’t convert any of our four chances. That’s why the result is what it is,” said coach Pavel Vrba at the press conference.

Sparta’s chances for the spring in Europe are still alive, however, as they will face Brondby at home and if they don’t lose, they will have to play for the European Conference playoffs in the last match against not only Slavia but also Jablonec.

“Of course we are very sorry that the Europa League ends today. But when I look at the teams in the Conference League, some of them are very interesting. Our goal before the start of the Europa League was to qualify for the spring stage of the European Cups, which means finishing in third place.

That goal is still achievable. The game against Copenhagen will be terribly important for us. We want to gain experience, which means to advance to the spring matches and gain more experience, which we need,” he added.

Sparta will now face Liberec at home and will need to break the curse in the anniversary game, then they travel to Karviná and their next game is against Brondby.

Source: AC Sparta Prague