Travel around Europe in one season. Sparta presented herself in all three cup competitions. After being eliminated in the Champions League qualification with Monaco, she moved to the European League group, where she finished 3rd in the group behind Lyon and Glasgow Rangers and ahead of Bröndby Copenhagen.
She wouldn’t have survived the winter until last year and it’s over. Thanks to the novelty, however, she still moved to the newly established Cup Number Three, after five years she played again in the spring and had her premiere in the Conference League.
How did she handle the chance given by the game format innovation? Shamefully and laxly, she failed desperately to measure with Partizan Belgrade. Although her juice dominates at home in Serbia, he does not shine in Europe either. With his performance at Letná, he showed why he returned to the spring part of the European Cups after four years.
Nevertheless, he won in Prague, which decided the race to advance to the round of 16. On the hot ground in Belgrade, Sparta only got a little dizzying at the end during a power play against ten, but she could no longer retouch the huge disappointment from soulless production.
If Pavel Vrba got the goal to return Sparta to the Champions League, the overall evaluation of her cup season is quite sad. She played a total of twelve matches in Europe. And how many did she manage? Actually only two! Retaliation in the preliminary round with Rapid Vienna, thanks to which she secured the autumn in the cups. And then another home duel with the Rangers in a unique atmosphere in front of the children’s audience.
The victory over Bröndby was at the end of the group a stamped on the transfer to the cup lower. There was a total explosion, despair and vanity.
If Sparta wants to compete for the Champions League next season as well, it must win the Czech title, there is no other way out of the domestic competition. However, Plzeň is still losing to the leading tandem of Slavia, and due to its current performances, probably few people bet that it will top them in the rest of the spring.
If they painted at Letná that every duel on the cup scene would bring a great experience to the young team, the confrontation with Partizan was a relentless mirror for Sparta. It evaporated from Europe without fanfare and completely deservedly.
