A window on the past: Slavia did not beat the famous Feyenoord, Sparta did ten years ago

Slavia Prague didn’t convert the hopeful draw from the first game at the ground of Dutch Feyenoord Rotterdam into the semifinals of the Conference League, they fell 1:3 at home. Its old rival Sparta Prague was more successful ten years ago in the fight for the Europa League group stage. After a 2-2 draw and a 2-0 win in the return leg at Letná, they advanced over Feyenoord.

The biggest personality of the Letná team then was striker Václav Kadlec, the author of three goals – both in Rotterdam, at Letná after an hour of play he unstopped the joy after a converted penalty by hand that stopped a shot by teammate Josef Hušbauer. Jiri Jarošík added the clincher in the 70th minute.

Ten years ago, Sparta were in a better position, as it was still the case that a goal scored away was worth more. Therefore, a goalless draw in the return leg was enough.

“I welcomed the change, because it seems fairer to me,” says Josef Hušbauer, Sparta’s playmaker and long-range shooter, who later became a mainstay of Slavia’s eternal rival. “It doesn’t matter if you score at home or away,” he explains.

He doesn’t dare to compare Feyenoord then with Feyenoord today. “It’s been ten years and Feyenoord has a completely different team,” he points out. The Dutch envoy went into the battle with the Czech one from the position of runner-up (Ajax Amsterdam captured the title), just like Sparta Prague, which was ousted from the defence by Slovan Liberec.

The famous coach Ronald Koeman, the 1988 European champion, had a lot of well-known names under him:: Bruno Martins Indi, Joris Mathijsen, Stephan de Vrij and others.

“But we caught him with Sparta at a time when he was not yet in top form and it was only just coming together,” Hušbauer recalls why the team led by Vítězslav Lavička handled the dangerous opponent quite easily.

“In that time, it has reached a completely different level,” adds the former Slavia Prague midfielder, who left Eden in January 2020.

That’s why his followers couldn’t even keep up with their Dutch opponents on home soil and had to postpone their dream of breaking into the top four teams in the competition. At least again for a year.

Source: UEFA