Slavia came from behind to beat Zlín at home
Manager Jindřich Trpišovský made six changes to his starting lineup in comparison with our last match against Liberec on Sunday. Ondřej Kolář started in goal. We played with three central defenders – Kúdela, Kacharaba and Zima. Lukáš Masopust and Jan Bořil started the game as wing-backs. The midfield trio was composed of Lukáš Provod, Nicolae Stanciu and Ibrahim Traoré. Jan Kuchta played up front alongside Stanislav Tecl.
The game against Zlín took an unexpected turn right at the beginning. The referee pointed to the spot after 5 minutes after Jan Bořil’s tackle in the penalty area. Potočný stepped up to the spot, sent Kolář the wrong way and scored to give Zlín an early lead.
In the 29th minute, Slavia managed to score an equaliser. After a series of passes, Stanislav Tecl sent a nice trough ball into the penalty area to Nico Stanciu who fired it past the goalkeeper to tie the game!
Slavia could go into the lead just ten minutes after the first goal. Jan Kuchta sent a great pass from the left wing to the middle of the penalty area to Stanislav Tecl. At first it looked like the striker was fauled by Cedidla so the referee pointed to the spot and gave the Zlín player a red card. After a VAR review, the referee found out that Ibrahim Traoré was in an offside position prior to this faul so the earlier decision was ruled out and there was no penalty and no red card!
Just a few minutes later the referee awarded another penalty to Slavia because of a handball! The VAR review was in play again and the penalty was cancelled again as the defender hit his hand with the ball while kicking the ball away.
Jan Kuchta sent us into the lead in the 50th minute! Kuchta received a trough ball after a series of passes in front of the box, shot on goal but only hit the post! The ball rebounded to Stanciu, his shot was blocked and then it rebounded to Kuchta who finally sent the ball into the net!
Zlín had a golden opportunity to tie the game in the 66th minute. Following a cross from the left wing, Tomáš Poznar headed the ball to the post and after it rebounded back to him, he shot at goal but he was aiming too high and overshot from close range!
Slavia managed to win the game 2-1 and collect get important three points! We also tied the longest unbeaten run in the league. We are currently unbeaten in 40 straight games which was only achieved by Sparta between 1943-1946. The Red-whites will play the next game on 25th April against Bohemians!
Lineups
Kolář – Kúdela, Kačaraba (74. Van Buren), Zima – Traoré (64. Holeš) – Masopust, Stanciu (74. Hromada), Provod, Bořil (C) – Tecl (46. Ševčík), Kuchta (81. Dorley)
Dostál – Cedidla, Simerský, Procházka – Fantiš, Hlinka, Vraštil (79. Matejov), Čanturišvili – Y. Dramé (70. Jawo), Poznar (C), Potočný (79. Janetzký).