A window to the past: Slavia didn’t keep their lead in Rotterdam, Sparta won there in 2001

Slavia Prague drew the opening match of the Conference League quarter-finals at the stadium of the Dutch club Feyenoord Rotterdam called ‘Umyvadlo’ 3:3. In the 73rd minute they were still leading 2:1 and were about to rob the home bastion of the 1970 Champions Cup winner. It would emulate its eternal rival Sparta Prague, which won the 2001/2002 Champions League group stage in Rotterdam 2-0.

It was the fourth round of the regular group of the most prestigious club competition in the world, and Letenske already had the scalp of their opponents hanging on their waist for a 4:0 home win. And they were not afraid even on the hot Rotterdam soil, they went consistently for the victory.

The opponent’s line-up was full of big names. “It was the Champions League, the highest club level,” points out defender Jiri Novotny, who points out that no weaker opponent was available on this floor (Bayern Munich and CSKA Moscow also completed the group).

The home team’s biggest star was striker Pierre van Hooijdonk, who scored a total of 348 league goals in his career. “But we kept him safe,” said Novotný, praising his clean sheet.

Sparta, on the other hand, struck twice, with the team captain adding the winning goal in the 78th minute. “Ras’a Michalik played a direct kick, sent a high centre to the back post, where I ran in, and with a header he beat the goalkeeper with a hobby horse,” he says of his accurate shot. “It was a rehearsed signal,” he admits.

He also had an interesting part in the first goal in the 43rd minute. Sparta had the advantage of a direct kick within shooting distance, with Jiri Jarošík (right foot) and Vladimir Labant (left foot) considering the opportunity to take it.

The man with the armband stuck to them as if he wanted to take charge of the execution himself. “No ,” Novotny rejects the idea of taking away a promising position from better finishers. “I just told Jirka Jarošík to score just before the break and be calm,” he reveals. The lanky midfielder obeyed the captain.

Slavia did not follow up on their old rival, but they are in a good position for the rematch. “I was rooting for her a lot,” the Spartan legend (a record 13 championship titles) dismissed the club’s ranting. “We need points for the coefficient,” looking to the benefit of all Czech football. Sparta, too.

Thanks to that win, Sparta advanced to the Champions League’s eighth-final group in the spring of 2002, where it faced Real Madrid, Panathinaikos Athens and FC Porto. If Slavia had made it past Feyenoord into the semi-finals of the Conference League, they could have welcomed the famous Olympique Marseille..

Source: UEFA