Sparta are facing a war in Scotland. Can the Letists adapt to that?

If you remember Rangers’ spring duel with Slavia at Ibrox Park, you will remember what the Scots rely on at home. Huge intensity, over-aggressiveness, lots of tough to vicious battles. Can Sparta adapt to that?

Rangers’ style of play at home is clear. All the more so if the players are fuelled by a full stadium. And the hate. The hatred the Scots have cultivated over the last six months. Towards the Czechs, towards Slavia, towards Sparta, towards Czech children.

Sparta will not have an easy time at Ibrox Park. Aside from some good-looking football, it’s expected to be a war. Everything should be at least somewhat calmed down by the experienced referee Danny Makkelie, the Dutch referee has a lot of experience from the Champions League or the European Championships.

So he shouldn’t let a similar potato pile-up to what Orel Grinfeld let it get into in the spring. But Sparta cannot rely on the referee’s help alone.

In the match it has to show totally different attributes from the ones it presented in Slovácko. As Pavel Vrba himself evaluated, Sparta wanted to play professorial football, and it didn’t pay off. They have to extremely step up against Rangers in terms of aggression, emphasis and movement.

The question is whether coach Vrba will adjust the lineup to that. For example, the deployment of the combative Matej Pulkrab at the expense of Martin Minchev. The question is whether Lukáš Štetina will get another chance and whether he can recover from the weekend setback.

There is also the possibility of Michal Sacek replacing David Pavelka, who is not quite up to the speed of European games.

The Spartans have known that a war was brewing in Glasgow since they took off from Prague. Both players and journalists are protected by bodyguards, nobody is advised to move around the city in club symbols. Sparta is simply in hostile territory, so hopefully the players will pull it together and win three points and thus qualify for the spring phase of the Europa League.

Source: Livesport