Slavia Prague vs. Sparta Prague: Preview and betting tips
David Kalivoda played 6 seasons in Slavia, but two moments are most memorable. A converted penalty against Ajax Amsterdam in the Champions League preliminary round and a goal in the derby against Sparta, which was followed by a needless dismissal.
On March 31, 2008, the last derby of Prague “S” took place in Strahov, at the Evžen Rošický stadium. And David Kalivoda really spiced it up.
In the fall, Slavia won the derby at Letná 2:0, at home they wanted to defend their invincibility against Sparta. The lineups at the time looked like this:
Slavia: Vaniak – Dřížďal (66. Hubáček), Suchý, Latka, Pudil – Krajčík (39. Kalivoda), Belaid, Tavares, Abraham, Černý – Toleski (82. Stríhavka)
Sparta: Grigar – Voříšek, Sivok, Řepka, Kadlec – Vacek (46. Kisel), Hušek (81. Matušovič), Horváth, Kolář (63. Došek) – Slepička, Kulič
There was a lot at stake in the fight for the title, so there was no shortage of sharp tackles and a few yellow cards. One of them was also fouled by Kalivoda, although his was not for an intervention, but for protests about a corner kick not being whistled.
But then came the 58th minute. Marek Suchý with a beautiful pass for the defense sent Belaid down the left wing, who headed it from the line unguarded to the goal of Sparta. He sent a cross into the box with his left foot, Kalivoda appeared at the back post, jumped ahead of Kadlec and sent Strahov into a huge euphoria.
She overpowered the then 25-year-old midfielder so much that he tore off his jersey to celebrate and ran to Slavia’s cauldron. But he didn’t realize at that moment that he had already received one yellow card and was due to be expelled.
Referee Franěk really had no choice, he had to draw a second yellow card and send Kalivod to the showers. Slavia then played for more than half an hour in a weakened state, but the visitors could only equalize when Michal Kadlec scored from a corner in the 74th minute.
“I only realized the exclusion when I started getting dressed, before that I didn’t realize it at all in my euphoria. I saw the fans, all the players around and there was a euphoria that was stronger than telling myself that I had to be careful.” described Kalivoda at the time.
“Pavel Řehák ran after him to get dressed somewhere…he didn’t make it.” The post-match evaluation in the cabin started with KJ (Karel Jarolím) saying that he understands that when you go to the solarium, you need to show it…” recalled on Twitter the then press spokesman of Slavia Ondřej Zlámal.
Source: SK Slavia Prague, Twitter