Vaclik at the press conference about the game of his life, Schick’s goal, offers from clubs and the match with Croatia

Tomas Vaclik didn’t have a great season. He played only 7 games for the club, but he kept his form and now he is showing it in the national team. What were his reactions after his goal against Scotland?

Tomas Vaclik appeared at the post-match press conference with a day to spare. After a successful catch against Scotland, he was the star of the match along with Patrik Schick after several key saves.

Individual performance

“I waited quite a long time to get into the game. The saves themselves were important because it was a draw. I’m glad I helped the boys,” the 32-year-old goalkeeper described his performance.

“I don’t know if it was my best performance in the national team. I can remember other good games, but it will definitely be one of the many at the top,” Vaclik said when asked if his performance against Scotland was his best ever in a national team jersey.

Summer transfer

Tomáš Vaclík may be even more pleased with his performance because of the summer transfer he will have to undergo. In fact, he has not extended his stay at Sevilla and will officially become a free agent on 30 June.

“It’s complicated, I don’t want to deal with it now, I’m mainly focusing on the tournament because I can’t influence it anyway. It’s hard to deal with everything anyway because of all the measures. We’ll see what happens after the tournament,” commented the 188 cm tall player.

Evaluation of the match and team performance

How did the winner of last year’s Europa League evaluate the opening match at the championship? “It is absolutely important to enter the tournament victorious. But it will also be important to confirm it in the next matches. It wasn’t the same in the preparation for a lot of reasons, but we believed we could match our form in time for the tournament. We did that and now we have to confirm it on Friday in the next game.”

“I think the guys, not just the defensive four, played a good game defensively. We can’t expect the opponent not to shoot on goal at the European Championships. We can certainly improve on some things, but overall I think we played a very good game,” the national goalkeeper praised the defensive work of his teammates.

Patrik Schick’s goal

“I saw that the Scotland goalkeeper started to sprint back, so I knew Patrik would try. But hats off to Patrik, because to combine everything together at such a speed and hit it like that was incredible,” the Ostrava native admired Patrik Schick’s stunt.

He also defended his fellow craftsman David Marshall. “I saw the reactions on social media. I don’t think David had much chance to do anything else. He was in a good position, I saw that he immediately ran back to the net. The goal itself was just unreal, I don’t think there was anything he could have done about it.”

Friday’s game against Croatia

“They have to get three points unconditionally, so I expect them to play offensively and want to attack. I have seen the footage of the England game, we have an idea, but we will have the video yet,” he predicted the course of the second match at the championship.

The national team leader also knows several Croatian players from his club career. He has met Vrsaljko or Ballon d’Or winner Luka Modric several times.

“He didn’t score once, then he scored again. He has done a lot and their game is based on him. We are going to play a game with extra class. It is clear that we will be playing against a great player,” Vaclik praised the Croatian Real Madrid star.

Czech national team