The clear goal is to advance! How are the players and coach Trpišovský reacting to the draw in the Conference League?

SK Slavia Prague made it through to the preliminary rounds of the Conference Europa League by beating Polish side Raków 2-0 in their last match. The fate has assigned the Sešiovans a quite acceptable Group G, so what are the reactions of the players themselves?

The Prague team first eliminated St. Joseph’s in their journey through the Conference League preliminary rounds, with a score of 11::0 (4::0, 7::0). After that, Jindřich Trpišovský’s charges also beat Panathinaikos (2: 0, 1: 1), after which Slavia’s biggest problems were obviously caused by Raków from Poland.

They lost 1:2, but they gave a solid team performance at home and outplayed Raków, especially in the second half. The decisive goal was scored by Ivan Schranz in the 120th minute. The Prague team can now look forward to the group stage.

Friday’s draw for the Conference Europa League’s main groups gave Slavia Prague acceptable opponents – CFR Cluj, Sivasspor and Kosovo’s FC Ballkani. How do the players or coach Trpišovský react to the composition of Group G?

Reaction to the draw

“We take it as it is. I wanted the Irish, who missed out again, and there were other favourites. We are sorry that there is not an interesting team for the fans, someone with a big name. But they came to support us in the preliminary rounds, so I believe they will drive us to make it through the group, we advanced and then went to the next draw,” said coach Trpišovský in an interview for the club website.

David Douděra, who would like to play against Belgian Anderlecht, also wanted a different opponent. For the 24-year-old native of Brandýs nad Labem, however, this is his first participation in the European Cup, and this experience will certainly help him in the next phase of his career.

“I wanted Anderlecht the most, but this is my first Europe, so I would have taken all the teams with all ten hands before the draw. I didn’t look at it too much, we got what we got, I’m excited. As I said, it’s my first experience in Europe, I’m happy for it,” says Douděra.

“The clear goal is to qualify. I wanted teams that would make it realistic to go further. We want to advance further, we can catch more attractive opponents later,” he added.

Slavia Prague will also face Cluj in the Conference Europa League group stage, a team they have already had experience with in European cups.

In fact, the Slavs have already met this famous Romanian team in 2019 in the fourth preliminary round of the Champions League and after the results of 1: 0 and 1: 0 advanced to the basic groups.

“I think that the whole Slavia has great memories of this stadium, we started our journey to the Champions League there. We are all looking forward to it, both teams have undergone a big change, so I think this match will be completely different than it was three years ago,” said Lukáš Masopust.

“They have the same coach and many of the same players, we know the environment there, we know what we’re getting into. They are still performing well, they won the title again with a big lead. The memories of the last game are pleasant, the coach and the environment were nice, but as I said, we prefer teams we haven’t played before. That’s a minus, but on the other hand we have nice memories and we know what’s ahead of us,” concluded coach Trpišovský

Sources: UEFA, SK Slavia Prague