Novák didn’t wish for a Czech opponent. How does he remember the knockout of Sparta in Trabzonspor jersey?

Slavia will play Fenerbahce Istanbul in the first round of the Conference Europa League playoffs. Monday’s draw pitted the Czech club and Czech international Filip Novak against each other. What did the defender of the third team of the last Super Lig season have to say about the draw?

They are not too happy with the draw in Turkey. Fenerbahce fans are aware that Slavia was probably the toughest possible choice given the results of the last few years (if we count Tottenham’s non-promotion).

Filip Novak didn’t wish for Slavia either, but he is probably the only one of the Czech players. Tomáš Holeš or Lukáš Masopust wanted the Turkish club, as did the coach of the Sešiovans Jindřich Trpišovský.

“I had the same wish as when we got Sparta. I didn’t want to play against a Czech team because I wish Czech football in general success. But of course, my priority is for my team to advance further in the competition,” Novák told the Sport Invest player agency.

The national team left-back has already had a similar “luck” in the draw. In the summer of 2019, he played in the third preliminary round of the Europa League against Sparta Prague, a team that had been interested in him in the past.

At that time, he was still wearing the jersey of another Turkish team, Trabzonspor. Sparta first lost a two-goal lead at home and only drew 2:2, then lost 1:2 away with Novak’s goal from the eighth minute of the setup.

“I remember the match with Sparta very well. We won and then advanced to the group stage, which was our goal. Now we will try to do the same. To beat Slavia and advance,” continued the former Jablonec player.

For the Turks, Slavia is a big unknown, but at the same time they are afraid of it. According to reactions on social media, they watched big games against Leicester or Arsenal, but otherwise they don’t know much about the champion of the last three league seasons.

For coach Vítor Pereira, it is a big positive that he has a Czech in his team who can explain the tactical maturity of Slavia. At the same time, he meets a lot of the boys at the national team meetings and knows their strengths and weaknesses.

“He’s already asked me lightly. I told him that Slavie play honest, running and demanding football. I’m sure we’ll get to that, and if he wants, I’ll help him prepare,” Novák added.

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