Comeback against Teplice. Victory secured by Oscar and Zafeiris

Compared to Tuesday’s rematch with Union SG, the coaches made seven changes. Petr Ševčík played for the first time since the match against Slovácko, and Mojmír Chytil returned after missing two games. Václav Jurečka was eager to score his third goal in his third start of the season.

The match kicked off after a minute of applause for the late Rudolf Jelínek, an actor and former chairman of the Friends’ Department. The national anthem echoed through Eden Stadium, and the Tribuna Sever (North Stand) unveiled a choreography commemorating the August 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. As part of the “Beyond Rivalry” project, Jaroslav Tvrdík and Pavel Šedlbauer presented checks totaling 130,000 CZK to help two families.

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Teplice posed the first threat, with Cykalo narrowly missing Kinský’s right post. Václav Jurečka’s lob sailed over the crossbar, and in the 10th minute, Radosta’s shot after a rebound was also off-target. In the 18th minute, Mojmír Chytil’s right-footed strike missed by centimeters, and Václav Jurečka’s header came close to scoring as well.

Half an hour in, Chytil and Matěj Jurásek had chances to take the lead, with Jurásek hitting the side netting. Teplice goalkeeper Němeček sportingly admitted a deflection, earning applause from both the referee and the crowd. Němeček also safely saved a shot from Petr Ševčík at the edge of the penalty area. Three minutes before halftime, Jurásek’s powerful shot narrowly missed the right post.

At the start of the second half, Jurečka slid in vain to reach Douděra’s brilliant cross, and Jurásek’s curling effort missed the far top corner. The visitors then struck on the counter, with Kinský acrobatically saving Svatok’s header, but he couldn’t stop Gning’s follow-up – 0:1. Slavia’s first-choice goalkeeper conceded for the first time in the league this season, ending a 417-minute clean sheet streak! The coaching staff responded with four substitutions, replacing Jurásek, Chytil, Ševčík, and Zima with Chorý, Zafeiris, Diouf, and Vorlický.

In the 68th minute, Vorlický elegantly dribbled past a defender, but Němeček denied his shot on the goal line. The Teplice goalkeeper also stopped Jurečka’s effort, after which Jurečka made way for Lukáš Provod. In the 78th minute, after Provod was fouled, Slavia was awarded a free kick. Zafeiris took the shot, which hit the crossbar with the help of a deflection. In the 81st minute, the equalizer came when Oscar dispossessed a hesitant Tsykalo, and Kričfaluši’s touch surprised Němeček at the near post – 1:1.

In the 86th minute, Slavia completed the turnaround. Bořil headed the ball to Christos Zafeiris, who cut inside and fired an unstoppable left-footed shot into the bottom right corner – 2:1.

The referee added six minutes of stoppage time, but the match ended without further incident. The 18,021 spectators witnessed a hard-fought 2:1 victory for Slavia. Jindřich Trpišovský’s team now faces Lille in France on Tuesday in the first leg of the Champions League playoff.