Kovář made his competitive debut against Real Madrid 30 years ago in a Sigma jersey. I didn’t even know I was going to play, recalls the Olomouc legend

Although Sigma Olomouc has been declining in recent years, it was able to compete with the world’s best teams, especially in the 1990s. In March 1992, it played an evenly matched double-header with Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. Michal Kovář, then only 18 years old, made his competitive debut in the first match. How does he remember the duels with the Spanish team?

Michal Kovář has had a very solid career. Most of it was spent in Olomouc, but he also played in the jersey of the famous Hansa Rostock. He played 299 league games for Sigma, only Oldrich Machala played more (414 games). Therefore, he can be rightly counted among the legends of the team from Haná.

Kovář scored his first competitive match at the age of 18, which would not be so special. However, the then young talented defender started his professional career with a clash against Real Madrid on 4 March 1992 in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup (now the Europa League).

“I was very lucky to be able to start at the expense of the injured boys. I really appreciate it and I still like to remember it. I like to watch the footage as well. I didn’t even know I was going to play then. I found out about it on the day, I didn’t have time to think about it,” Kovář recalled on the SigmaJede podcast.

As the current Sigma youth coach himself admitted, the match with Real Madrid kick-started his career. “I wasn’t afraid that I might not experience a big game like that again in my career. On the contrary, it gave me a kick-start when I found out that you can play against Real Madrid too. I wasn’t afraid of more challenges, you start to believe in yourself even more,” he added.

The first match between Sigma and Real Madrid, which took place at the Olomouc stadium in front of full stands, ended in a 1-1 draw, with Pavel Hapal scoring the goal. Kovář entered the rematch a bit more nervous.

“I knew I would play, the nervousness was greater. We were preparing for the match, it was written and talked about a lot, it affected me a bit, but I appreciated the fact that I could play,” Kovář revealed.

The rematch at the famous Santiago Bernabeu ended with Real Madrid winning 1:0, however, the Hanaks turned in a gutsy performance and were not an easy opponent. Moreover, they were confident and did not go into the match in a defeatist mood.

Kovář revealed that the then coach Karel Brückner did not analyse Real Madrid’s game too much. On the contrary, he tried to instil as many different things as possible in his players so that they could be competitive and focus mainly on themselves. Even if it wasn’t enough to advance, there was no reason to be sad.

Source:: SK Sigma Olomouc, SigmaJede