Slavia Prague is out of the Conference League! Only drew with Sivaspor at home, while Cluj won

Slavia had to beat Sivasspor at home and hope that Cluj would lose to Balkani. But it didn’t happen, Susians didn’t even manage to win their home game against the Turkish team and they are saying goodbye to Europe.

It should have been an easy group for the Czech team, but Slavia lost several times unnecessarily. Before the start of the last match in the Conference League group, they were in third position and even a win at home was not enough to advance, they had to hope for an undefeated last Balkani.

The Slavists wanted to go ahead very quickly, with a packed Eden driving them forward. The first 25 minutes were played only around the visitors’ goal, the Susians combined around the whitewash, played a few corner kicks, but there was no serious threat to the goal.

And soon the cruel blow came. Max Gradel rounded Lukáš Masopust and centred, Karol Angielski got to the header, after which the ball hit the hand of David Jurásek. The Slavia defender received a yellow card and the referee called a penalty.

Gradel stood up for the penalty and sent the ball the other way from where Ondrej Kolář was going. Even the whistling of the fans did not stop the shooter and Sivasspor took the lead 1: 0.

However, the home side were not going to give up. They didn’t let their opponents do anything until the end of the half, they were on the move again. Five minutes before the end, Ondrej Lingr tried to get a penalty, but the referee remained calm. Then Ewerton’s centre ended up just outside the box.

Nothing further happened in the first half, and the visitors stayed in a narrow 1:0 lead, even though they defended practically the whole time. There must have been another blow for the home side in the dressing room when they learned that Cluj were leading Balkani, and relegation hopes almost disappeared.

At the start of the second half, a triple change took place for the Sevilla side. Masopust, Yira Sor and Aiham Ousou did not take the field anymore. The new faces on the pitch were Stanislav Tecl with David Doudera and Eduardo Santos.

Slavia attacked their cauldron in the second half, which added even more motivation to the players. They again closed their opponents in front of the goal. Lingr got a promising chance, but he shot over after a centre by Jurásek.

After an hour of play, Peter Olayinka got a shot, but the promising shot was knocked down for a corner, from which the home team rejoiced. Jurásek sent in a dangerous cross which was knocked behind his own goalkeeper by Dimitros Goutas. After an own goal, Slavia equalised.

It looked at least a little more positive for the Czech coefficient. However, the home side were determined to take the win. In the 73rd minute, Tecl had a huge chance, but he shot over the empty net. The visitors could not get out of their half, but the home side failed to capitalise on their pressure.

In the 90th minute, they celebrated by winning a foul. From a standard situation, Tecl got a header but the ball flew over. The following cross was prolonged by the goalkeeper until he received a yellow card. Slavia quickly got on the attack, but Olayinka shot into the middle where the ball was calmly caught by goalkeeper Ali Sasal Vural.

Even in the last seconds of the match, the Susians were unable to take advantage of their dominance on the pitch and the referee ended the match at 1-1. Slavia failed to confirm their role as favourites and finished third in the Conference League group with eight points. Cluj won their match, so even if they had won, the Susians would not have advanced.

Source: UEFA