Win against Opava matches our own league record

Jindřich Trpišovský made 6 changes into the starting line-up compared to the Europa League game on Thursday. 18-year old Matyáš Vágner made his full league debut replacing injured Ondřej Kolář in Slavia goal.

Slavia got into the first chance of the game with just 3 minutes on the clock. Stanciu got a long ball on the left side of the pitch and passed it to Bořil who tried his luck with a long-range shot, but our captain fired wide.

After 20 minutes Řezníček got enough space in front of our box and fired low from 23 metres, but Vágner blocked the ball on corner.

Only two minutes later Slavia went down to ten men. Sima hit goalkeeper Digaňa who rushed out to beat him to a through ball and was initially given a yellow. After the VAR check, however, the Slavia midfielder was sent off by the referee.

Only few chances could bee seen in the minutes following the sent-off, but Slavia slowly grew back into the game. Three minutes before the ned of the first half Masopust and then Kuchta were both denied by Opava goalkeeper following two corners.

In the 44th minute Holeš fired from outside of the box, but he sent the ball above crossbar. A minute later Mick van Buren tried his luck after a quick throw-in when he saw Digaňa far from the goal, but Opava goalkeeper returned in time to block his effort.

But Slavia went happier to the dressing room anyway. In the 4th minute of the added time Stanciu latched onto a through pass by van Buren and fired from inside the box. His effort was blocked by Opava goalkeeper only to Jan Kuchta who sent his 12th goal of the season into an open net.

Resilient Opava made the first half difficult for Slavia, but the Red whites returned to their usual style of play after the break. In the 52nd minute Kulhánek brought down Kuchta inside of the box, was shown second yellow card and Slavia were awarded a penalty. Nicolae Stanciu scored from the spot, recorded his 8th goal in last 6 games and gave Slavia two-goal cushion.

With Opava down to ten men too, Slavia dominated the rest of the game. In the 61st minute Stanciu could score his second, but Digaňa blocked his firm shot over the crossbar. Only 3 minutes later Lukáš Provod launched a counter-attack on our half, passed the ball to Mick van Buren who found Tomáš Holeš in front of goal and our midfielder fired the ball through Digaňa to make it 3-0.

Stanislav Tecl then set up the last goal for Oscar Dorley in the 78th minute. Tecl found Oscar on the edge of the box and the Liberian midfielder fired the ball into the top left corner to score his second goal of the season.

Slavia thus beat Opava 4-0 despite playing part of the game one man down. We are now 36 league games unbeaten which means we have matched our own league record from 2017.