We want to win every game, we will fight for promotion, proclaims the hero Reinberk! How did he comment on his decisive goal?

On Thursday 13 October Slovácko managed to win their group stage match in the Conference Europa League at Nice, when Petr Reinberk scored the decisive goal just a few minutes before the end. How did the thirty-three-year-old defender comment on the victory over the French side?

Nice – Slovácko, Partizan – Cologne. This is exactly how the fourth round of the European Conference League Group D looked like. Partizan, who defeated their opponents 2:0, and Slovácko, who turned the game on the field of OGC Nice and won 2:1.

Sofiane Diop opened the scoring in the 14th minute and it looked like the French team would go for a clear victory. Especially in the first half, the home team was the better team and Slovácko had to defend against dangerous attacks.

With the second half, however, the picture of the game changed. Slovácko started to play more actively and got into scoring opportunities.

And it was the activity of Martin Svedik’s charges that bore fruit, with defender Michal Tomic equalising in the 75th minute to make it 1:1. The decisive moment came in the 85th minute when the referee gave a red card to Jean-Clair Todib and he had to head to the showers early.

The team from Uherské Hradiště had the advantage of a direct kick played by Reinberk. The Slovácko defender sent his shot along the ground to the left post, which Kasper Schmeichel failed to react to – 1::2!

Words of the decisive goal

This situation lasted until the final whistle. However, it was Reinberk who explained the situation before the standard situation in an interview for the club’s website, as he was confident on the direct kick.

“Shumi called us from a header, so I stood up to it. Havlas didn’t look too happy about it, but I told him to let me kick it and for once in my life I’ll send it in. The wall parted and it went through the gap. It worked,” commented the hero of the match on his decisive shot.

“Shumi knows I tried it in practice. He joked that I would never kick it in a match. I asked Havlas if he would let me do it. He was confident about it too,” he added.

One point in the hexagonal finals

Slovácko remains in last place in Group D despite the victory at the French team’s ground, but with four points they are only one point behind second-placed Nice.

“It’s beautiful. We could have had more points from the first three games and we didn’t get the result. Today the game was not good and we still won. Nice tried to play long balls at the end, but we did well,” Reinberk said.

Partizan is the leader of Group D after the fourth round and has collected 8 points so far. Cologne is third between Nice and Slovácko with four points, so the fight for promotion is still open.

“We want to win every game and we will fight for promotion,” concluded the Slovácko alumnus.

1. FC Slovácko, UEFA Conference League