Slavia advances to the Europa league knockout stages

As most of the players recovered in time for the match against Hapoel Beer Sheva, manager Jindřich Trpišovský could pick his strongest eleven. Only Tomáš Malínský, David Hovorka and Ladislav Takács were unavailable. Oscar Dorley returned to the left side of defense and Nico Stanciu replaced Ondřej Lingr in midfield.

Hapoel had the first chance of the match as they were awarded a corner in the first minute. But after this opportunity, Slavia began to hold the ball and attack. First bigger opportunity came in 7th minute. Lukáš Masopust took the ball in the right side of the field, ran all the way to the penalty area and took a shot. But Levita had no problem saving it.

The game was played mostly in the middle of the field until the 20th minute. Slavia had some opportunities during that time but no real chance to score. A bigger chance came in the 21st minute when Nico Stanciu was fauled one meter before the penalty area. He stepped up to take the free kick but just missed the goal.

Slavia scored the first goal of the game in 31st minute and it could not be anyone else than Abdallah Sima. It was his fifth goal in the last six matches. After Olayinka was fauled on the left wing, Jan Kuchta got to the ball and crossed it into the box. Sima was able to jump higher than both the defender and goalkeeper and headed the ball into the net.

In the 36th minute, Lukáš Masopust threw the ball to Olayinka who passed it to Kuchta right to the border of the penalty area. Hapoel’s defense was able to clear the ball but Nico Stanciu got hold of it a few metres before the box. He then took a shot to the bottom left corner and Levita could not reach it. 2-0!

The first chance of the second half came in the 56th minute. A combination of passes between Olayinka, Oscar and Kuchta ended with a final pass to Olayinka into the box but as he was preparing to shoot, the defender robbed him of the ball.

Slavia could score after a counter attack a few minutes later. Masopust had the ball on the right wing and crossed it to the box to Kuchta. He headed it nicely to the right side, but the positioning of Levita was so good that he did not have a problem catching the ball.

The Red-whites were dominating the game between 55th and 65th minute. The ball hardly left Hapoel’s half. Slavia was attacking all the time but Beer Sheva’s defense was able to hold off all goalscoring opportunities.

The third goal of the match was scored again by Sima! Olayinka led a counter attack on the left wing. Sima was the only one running to the penalty area so Olayinka passed the ball to him. Sima’s shot was slightly deflected by the defender to the goal goal post and then it rebounded into the net.

Slavia won the game 3-0 and advanced to the knockout stages. The Red-whites will play the next match against Sparta Prague away on 6th december.