We got through the top clubs to the group, Sivasspor has players from the Premier League and Ligue 1, sounds from the Slavia cabin before Thursday

On Thursday, Slavia will enter the group stage of the Conference Europa League, playing against Sivaspor in Turkey. What did assistant coach Zdeněk Houštecký say before the match with last year’s winner of the domestic cup?

Sešiváni have made a name for themselves in Europe over the past five years, reaching the quarter-finals of the Europa League twice, the quarter-finals of the newly formed Conference League last year, and qualifying for the Champions League group stage once.

This year, Slavia did not win the league title for the first time in three years and due to the decline of the Czech coefficient as vice-champion they only went to the second round of the Conference League. In that round, they went through St. Joseph’s, Panathinaikos and Raków Czestochowa.

“Except for the first opponent, they were the top clubs and we managed to get past them with all our strength. We are happy to be in the European Cup group again, it is extremely beneficial for the whole club,” Zdeněk Houštecký told the club website.

As expected, the journey through the three preliminary rounds was a difficult one. Gibraltar’s St. Joseps’ were a formality, Slavia struggled with Panathinaikos until the last minute in the rematch, and Raków’s elimination was decided only in the extra time.

Sivasspor made it to Europe by winning the League Cup. Thanks to that, they went to the Europa League play-offs, where they fell twice to Swedish champions Malmö. First away 1: 3, then a week later at home 0: 2.

“They were unsuccessful in the qualification with Malmö of Sweden, we saw the matches, as well as their duel with Besiktas. Wewill see what their collective concept will be, defensively we should outperform them and we want to bring back three points,” continued the assistant of Jindřich Trpišovský.

Sivasspor were reinforced by striker Ahmed Musa a week ago, yet Slavia will be favourites. It has been assigned an unattractive but at least playable group compared to last year. Apart from Sivasspor, it also includes Kosovo’s Balkani and Romania’s Cluj.

But not all of Slavia’s wide squad will go to the eastern destinations. Marech Icha, Srdjan Plavsic and national team players Jakub Hromada and Václav Jurecka did not fit into the nomination. The last mentioned due to injury.

“This is the worst for us, all the guys give 100% in training and all the preparation, it is very difficult to eliminate any player. If we managed to advance to the knockout stage, it could be completely different again,” added Houštecký.

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