Slavia came from behind in Opava

After far-from-ideal performance in Bordeaux Slavia manager Jindřich Trpišovský made three changes in the starting line-up. Captain Milan Škoda started as a lone striker as he aimed to end his goal silence lasting since August. Jan Sýkora was given a chance to start in midfield and Ondřej Kúdela accompanied Michael Ngadeu in central defence.

Both teams burst into the game with a great offensive attitude, but the red-whites created the first opportunity. On 10th minute Jan Bořil brilliantly intercepted the ball from Kayamba and Slavia had a chance to break through disorganized defence. Souček, who got to the ball, sent Sýkora into an open space on the left side and our midfielder found Coufal with another brilliant diagonal cross. Slavia right back immediately put the ball back into the box where – however – neither Souček nor Škoda couldn’t find the target.

Slavia were eventually the first team to score. On 24th minute, Coufal found the Škoda’s head with a long throw-in. The captain’s header fell to the feet of Jaromír Zmrhal on the far post. Slavia winger kept his composure and fired the ball past Šrom to make it 1:0 for hosts.

Slavia set the pace of the game and had two big opportunities to double their lead. On 33rd minute Stoch found Zmrhal on the right side, but his shot didn’t find the back of the net. It took only 3 minutes for Slavia to create another goal-scoring opportunity. Zmrhal found Škoda in a dangerous space and our captain slipped through defenders, but his hard shot only hit the post. The ball eventually landed in front of Jan Sýkora who fired his rebound over the crossbar in a difficult position.

Despite Slavia pressure Opava found a way back into the game very quickly. Zapalač burst into the penalty area, was tackled by Jan Bořil and the referee pointed to the spot without any hesitation. Pavel Zavadil gave no chance to Slavia keeper and levelled the score on 38th minute.

The first side to create a goal-scoring opportunity in the second half were the hosts. After a rehearsed set piece situation, Smola found the back of the net, but the home celebrations were interrupted by a linesman as the offside position preceded the final shot. But it only took a minute to home players to give the crowd another reason to cheer. Kuzmanovič was given much time in Slavia box and he converted his chance calmly to make it 2-1.

When things don’t go well for Slavia, they can always rely on pinpoint crosses of its No. 10. As many times in his Slavia career Josef Hušbauer found Jaromír Zmrhal with his trademark pass behind the defence line and our winger nutmegged the home keeper, scored his second of the night and put Slavia back into the game.

A game changing moment came on 71st minute when Smola was awarded his second yellow and sent off for violent conduct. It took only two minutes for the away team to take advantage of the one-man advantage. Hušbauer found Bořil inside of the box with yet another perfect cross. The tireless left back put the ball into the gap between the keeper and the defence. As a result, Tomáš Souček turned the game around with a tap in to make it 3-2.

The red-whites could have killed the game on 80th minute but Deli’s header only hit the post again. In the added time, Stoch was brought down in the penalty area and the pacey Slovak was given the opportunity to score his 11th goal of the season. However, the home goalkeeper denied Stoch’s penalty shot by an acrobatic save and thus, the final score was 3-2 in favour of Slavia.

The red-whites are now on top of the league 4 points ahead of Viktoria Plzeň, 10 points ahead of Jablonec and 12 points ahead of Sparta.