The people of Prague cannot take full advantage of the defeat of the defending champion from Pilsen in the afternoon, and they are six points behind the leader Viktoria from third place in the table. Slavia can reach the end of the competition on Sunday. Sparta lost points after three rounds and did not win at Hané in the league for the fifth time out of the last six duels. Sigma has not lost in the highest competition for the third time in a row and is fifth.

“The point is probably the maximum. We had a good preparation, we wanted to win here. After the good start we had, we were hoping for more than a draw. But I have to praise Olomouc, they had a very good game plan,” said Sparta’s Danish coach at the press conference Brian Priske.

As expected, both teams started with three stoppers. Not one of the winter reinforcements made it to the Spartans’ starting line-up, for the first time since October 8, the recovered flight captain Ladislav Krejčí Jr. jumped into a competitive match.

The people of Prague struck right from their first big chance. In the 10th minute, after Haraslín’s pass, Čvančara stretched from the edge of the box and beat Trefil with a ground shot with the help of the stick. With the sixth goal, he confirmed the position of the best team scorer in the league team. As early as in the 13th minute, he had to replace the visiting stopper Sörensen due to an injury, who was replaced by the young Vydra.

The Hanás tried to equalize, but they did not manage to get a significant chance after a series of corners after half an hour of play. On the contrary, in the 41st minute, after a quick break, he went over the home goalkeeper Trefil Haraslín and referee Zelinka ordered a penalty for Sparta. However, after the intervention of the video referee and a review of the situation on the monitor, he changed his verdict and assigned the Leten winger a yellow card for simulating.

Moments later, it was even worse with the guests. In the opening minute of the first half, Růsek won a header duel with Panák in the penalty area, and Navrátil, in an acrobatic position with his back to the goal, beat Kovář with an arc. The Spartan goalkeeper easily reached for the ball, but did not prevent it from going into the net. In the league, they conceded after 360 minutes.

“The ball was jumping there, I saw that there was a goal somewhere behind me. So I tried to hit it and I was lucky that it fell there,” said Navrátil. “We didn’t play the way we wanted in the first half. We scored an early goal, but then we were too passive and conceded a crappy goal right before the break,” Priske regretted.

Six minutes after the break, the Spartans could have taken the lead back, but Kucht’s header was blocked by a defender just above. On the opposite side, in a good firing position, Breite mishit the ball. In the 58th minute, the Praguers had to substitute for the second time due to injury, after Vraštil’s unfortunate hit to the head on the ground, the goal scorer Čvančara left the pitch on a stretcher and winter reinforcement Mabil came into the game.

The Leten striker suffered a concussion and fell unconscious for a while. “I was convinced that after the fault on Čvančar, the kick should have been kicked directly. I was angry because I felt that the referee was insufficiently protecting the health of the players,” said Priske.

Mabil, an Australian participant in the recent World Cup, stirred up the Letenskés’ game. In the 90th minute, goalkeeper Trefil misjudged his cross from a corner, but the home team luckily resisted. In the long setup lasting 11 minutes, both teams were able to strike. First, the home side failed after two corners, Sparta came even closer, but Haraslín missed in an acrobatic position and Panák only hit the post with a header from close range in the end.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t convert the chance. Unfortunately, I can’t do anything about it, I can throw ashes on my head,” said Panák. “Sparta is a quality opponent, we take the point. From my point of view, it was deserved. Although I am aware that Sparta could have decided at the end of the match, I still have the feeling that we were a bit better team in the whole context of the match. Why, why we didn’t finish it to the winning end, it was our final phase and, in a way, efficiency,” said Olomouc coach Václav Jílek, who in the past alongside Sparta.

Round 17 of the First Football League:

Sigma Olomouc – Sparta Prague 1:1 (1:1)

Goals: 45.+1 Navrátil – 10. Čvančara. Referee: Zelinka – Kubr, Podaný – Petřík (video). ŽK: Trefil, Zifčák – Haraslín, Vydra, Friis (coach’s assistant). Viewers: 7126.

Olomouc: Trefil – Pokorný, Beneš, Vraštil – Zifčák, Breite, Ventúra (85. Vodháněl), Zmrzlý (90.+10 Zlatohlavek) – Navrátil (63. Zorvan) – Růsek (86. Spáčil), Chytil. Coach: Jílek.

Sparta: Kovář – Vitík, Panák, Sörensen (13. Vydra, 75. Kamenovič) – Wiesner (75. Mejdr), Sadílek, Ladislav Krejčí II, Zelený – Čvančara (58. Mabil), Haraslín – Kuchta (75. Minčev). Coach: Priske.