European Cup preliminary rounds: good results for Slovaks, three Czechs close to elimination

On Thursday, the first matches of the second round of the European Conference League were played. Two Czech and three Slovak clubs appeared on the scene. How did the five do and what were the surprising results?

Viktoria Plzeň managed to win their match, beating Dinamo Brest 2-1 at home and adding their first points to the Czech coefficient this year. Unfortunately, Slovácko did not imitate them in this respect, losing to Lokomotiv Plovdiv 0:1 with a goal from the 89th minute.

After the first match, three Czechs are unexpectedly close to elimination. Libor Kozák, Jakub Plšek and Patrizio Stronati saw their team lose 0:3 to Latvian outsider RFS Riga. All goals were scored in the opening 25 minutes, so Puskás Akadémia has a lot of catching up to do.

The Slovak teams took one win, one draw and one loss from Thursday’s programme. Žilina unexpectedly beat Apollon Limassol 3-1, Spartak Trnava played goalless against Sepsi and Dunajská Streda lost 0-1 to Partizan Belgrade.

The unexpected complications in the rematch will be Dundalk, who only drew with Levadia Tallinn 2:2 at home, Feyenoord, who played goalless against Dirta from Kosovo, and Danish Aarhus, who have to make up for a one-goal deficit (losing 1:2 to Larne from Northern Ireland).

A big success for Bosnian football can be considered a win of local Velež Mostar over AEK Athens 2:1, while in Iceland a draw of Breidablik at the field of Austrian Austria Vienna is celebrated.

Slovácko watched with one eye the match between Copenhagen and Torpedo Belaz. The winner of this double-header would meet the winner of the match if they were to advance. As expected, after the opening encounter, it looks like the Danish team, who won 4:1 on Thursday.

Full results can be found on the UEFA website, with the rematch to be played next week.

Source: UEFA