A loss with honor. Sparta lost to Lyon 3:4, second half decided

Sparta played the third match of the group stage of the Europa League well, but due to a bad second half, they lost to Lyon 3:4.The hero of the Prague derby, Lukáš Haraslín, scored the goals, and Ladislav Krejčí Jr. also scored once.

Sparta took the lead in the fourth minute, Lukáš Haraslín shot from the edge of the box and with the help of a cross he shot past the Lyon goalkeeper. In the 20th minute, the Slovak winger enjoyed a second successive goal when he cleared the ball to the near post.

On the other side, Tino Kadewere came to the rescue seven minutes later, but missed the ball well from a volley. In the 36th minute, Florin Nita shone against the skilful striker, saving his own effort.

But in the 42nd minute, the Romanian goalkeeper had to fish the ball out of the net. Toko Ekambi did his best as a skilled striker and outmuscled Nita.

Right after the change of sides, the visitors managed to equalise, with Houssem Aouar taking advantage of a messy situation in the penalty area to split the net. Dávid Hancko could have given Sparta the lead back in the 58th minute, but he missed the back post by inches.

In the 65th minute, Nita saved Sparta with a double strike, then half a minute later he was saved by the bar. But he had no chance in the next three minutes. Lucas Paqueta leaned on the ball from a volley and cleared the right post. Sparta’s chance came in the 74th minute, Gusto received his second yellow card and had to take an early shower.

In the 78th minute, Tomas Wiesner tried to take advantage of a power play, but his curling shot was knocked down by the Lyon defence. The rest of the game was full of fouls and ugly tackles, just like the rest of the second half. Two goals were still scored.

Toko Ekambi was lucky to work the ball in the penalty area and then sent it to the back post. Ladislav Krejci Jr. then reduced the score to 3:4 with a header in the fifth minute.

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