Sparta Praha will be Stuttgart’s first opponent in a Champions League home game after fourteen years. Jan of the Derby Podcast tells us all about the Czech double winners.
With the Red Stripe: Hello Jan and thank you for taking your time to answer our questions. Could you please introduce yourself and your podcast to our readers?
Jan: Hello, my name is Jan Pavlica and I am 37 years old. I was born as a Spartan and I will die as a Spartan. In Prague we have 2 teams Sparta and Slavia, the rivalry is huge and this Sunday we are waiting for a “derby” game, Slavia at home vs Sparta away. It is a social position if you support Sparta or Slavia in Prague, there are political, economic and historical reasons behind it.
I am an active athlete, but my biggest hobby is football and Sparta in particular. Otherwise, I have 2 children, fortunately, they also chose Sparta, although I admit that it was not very democratic in our house, you cannot untie the children’s hands too much in certain matters (laughs).
I am an entrepreneur, I run a business in the tourism industry, with solar panels as well, and every Monday we record an increasingly popular podcast on YouTube — DERBY PODCAST, when we talk with my “friend”, a Slavia fan, about the current round played by Slavia and Sparta, we do a preview of the matches which both teams await in Europe and in the domestic league.
On Friday, Sparta lost a competitive match for the first time this season against Sigma Olomouc. What was the reason for that?
Sparta entered the match with the strongest lineup, in past matches Sparta was criticized for focusing too much on European matches and the home matches were not convincing. Sparta won home matches with a small goal margin, conceding a lot of goals, so the new coach Friis decided not to underestimate anything for this match and deploy the strongest Sparta had. This line-up will probably run out in Tuesday’s match in Stuttgart as well.
Sparta quickly took the lead after a kick from goalkeeper Vindahl, the attack lasted eight seconds, Olatunji scored a beautiful goal and everything looked very simple.
Unfortunately, Sparta stopped playing and concentrated on the match. Two big mistakes were made by stopper Martin Vitik (21 years old), the most valuable player of current Sparta (15m EUR), Sigma scored two goals from these mistakes and led 2:1, another huge fatality in defense was made by the national team player Jaroslav Zelený and before the end Sparta was losing 1:3.
It wasn’t enough to get the result and 1 goal scored at the end meant Sparta lost at home in the league after more than 1.5 years. Everyone was like a scald, a big slap, and a wake-up call for the next matches. Sparta needed this slap because she looked too confident.
Last season, Sparta won the double for the first time in ten years and the second league championship in a row. Is Sparta on the rise again after a decade of Pilsen and Slavia sharing the league titles between them?
There is a lot of talk now that the Czech league has made a big move, the coefficient of Czech football is really high and from this season the 1st team automatically qualifies for the Champions League, which also means a big financial injection for the clubs. In the Czech League, there are 3 dominant teams: Sparta Prague, Slavia Prague, and Viktoria Pilsen. Viktoria Pilsen is like a joker or the wild card of the tournament, everyone knows that Sparta and Slavia always give away, but when two fight, the third laughs, if you know what I mean.
It is important to know that the owner of Sparta is Daniel Kretinsky — the richest person in the country and a very elegant young businessman who has companies in England, France, and other Western European countries. He is not an Eastern-style oligarch, but a very educated and charismatic man. He has owned Sparta for over 14 years, but everything changed 5 years ago when Tomáš Rosický became sports director.
Three years ago he brought coach Brian Priske (formerly Midtjylland or Antwerp) to Sparta, and they changed the whole Sparta together, bet on foreign players, and set a winning mentality. At the end of last season, after the double, Feyenoord reached out to him to replace Arne Slot, and Priske was replaced by the very ambitious A team assistant Lars Friis. And it was Lars Friis who led Sparta Prague to the Champions League after 19 long years. We beat Shamrock, FCSB, and Malmo, dominated all the matches, and confirmed it in the first leg of the Champions League against Red Bull Salzburg 3–0.
What is your expectation for the current season?
Sparta always states at the pre-season press conference that the only goal is to win the league and qualify for European cups. These are the main goals of the club.
This season will be difficult again with Slavia, Slavia needs to win the title after a long time. It will be really exciting and the Derby will tell a lot on Sunday.
Sparta wants to be competitive in the Champions League and will have a lot to test its system in Stuttgart: Fast play on the wings, solid defense with goalkeeper Vindahl, who plays similar to Manuel Neuer with his feet and he is a third-stopper. Up front we have dangerous striker Victor Olatunji and the head of the entire system in the middle of the midfield is Kaan Kairinen.
Let’s look at the system, which one are you playing? What are currently Sparta’s strengths and weaknesses and which of your players should we look out for especially?
Sparta plays in a 3–4‑3 style with wingbacks. Sparta has a very quick transition to the attack, where there are two very good players on the wings, Haraslín and Birmančevič, both of whom have many assists and can score a goal themselves, your defense has to watch out for them. Up front we play one power forward from Nigeria, Victor Olatunji, strong in tackles, quick, shooter. I already mentioned the goalkeeper, the very focused and calm Peter Vindahl (Denmark). The defense is set: Vitik-Sorensen-Panak
My favorite player is Kaan Kairinen ( Finland ) a creative central midfielder, he controls the whole game and the tempo of Sparta. He is not very fast, so he needs a running teammate (Laci or Sadilek) next to him
The strength of Sparta Prague is that it evaluates the opponent’s strengths well and tries to eliminate them. The lineup is very strong, unfortunately the bench is weaker in some places. A weakness is if the opposite team plays an active press sink against Sparta, at this moment Sparta makes mistakes. A great experience was the match against Liverpool, we opened the game and Liverpool scored a lot of goals, that’s why Sparta is now more compact from this match and does not open the game.
Another weakness are the wing backs Wiesner and Preciado. Wiesner is small in stature, holds the ball a lot, and is weak at the back. Preciado is skillful on the ball, but has a lot of feet and tricks and is weaker at the back.
Stuttgart and Sparta have never played each other competitively, the only player I found to have played for both clubs was Jan Simak. What were your reactions to the draw against VfB, what is your perception of the club?
The Champions League draw was very difficult for Sparta, it was evaluated as the second hardest possible. (RB Salzburg, VFB, MAN City, Brest, Atletico Madrid, Feyenoord, Inter, Leverkusen) Sparta is strong at home, the atmosphere is amazing and that helps the team to beat big teams (Betis Sevilla, Galatasaray).
Away, Sparta is weaker and VfB certainly gets a lot of respect due to the fact that you play at home.
The German league has a very good name here, the biggest stars of the Czech league go there: Koller, Rosicky, Schick, Hlozek, Kaderabek or Hranac. VfB has not been at the top of the German league for a long time, so it is unknown what awaits Sparta in Stuttgart. Certainly, the match against Real Madrid, in which you lost 1:3, but you played very good football, caught the attention of many Czech fans. The only Czech player who played for you was the wild child of Czech football, Jan Simak. Many stories not only about football from his life attracted the attention of the boulevard media.
Do you know how many Sparta fans will make the trip to Stuttgart?
Sparta has a very strong fan base. According to the fans, it is the biggest team in the Czech Republic. 3300 seats were released in Stuttgart, but these seats disappeared within 1 minute, I was lucky and I am going to Stuttgart with a group of friends of about ten people. For this away match against VfB, we have special edition t‑shirts, we will all be wearing black. Spartan fans are very hot-blooded, and devoted, we use choreo in the stadium, and pyrotechnics. It will surely be a great spectacle for you.
We never stop cheering and I believe we will match the volume of your fans. All over Europe, we are highly praised for the atmosphere we create.
What is your guess for the starting eleven and the result?
Sparta Praha is going undefeated, I personally think there is a chance to draw, but it is difficult to predict if we have a quick goal. I estimate that we will score a goal and it will depend on your fans how they drive your team to win. A 2:0 or 3:0 defeat would be a big disappointment for Sparta Prague today, losing by one goal would probably make the team stand out in the media.
My tip for the result is 1:1
Thank you and have a good game.
Picture: © Ian Walton/Getty Images