AC SPARTA PRAHA V AC MILAN After the Last-Gasp Goal Which Gave AC Sparta Praha Their Dramatic Victory Over Pre-Season Group Favourites S.S
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First Knock-out Round First Leg Prague 24 February 2004 AC SPARTA PRAHA – AC MILAN AC SPARTA PRAHA STADIUM, PRAGUE TUESDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2004 at 20.45 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIRST KNOCK-OUT ROUND AC SPARTA PRAHA v AC MILAN After the last-gasp goal which gave AC Sparta Praha their dramatic victory over pre-season group favourites S.S. Lazio in December, the Czech side now raises the curtain on 2004 with another home fixture against Italian visitors – this time no less than the defending European champions, AC Milan. Coming out of the winter break to take on such illustrious opponents is no mean challenge, especially as the Italian visitors have been playing almost continuously while their Czech opponents have been in ‘hibernation’. AC Milan, who built their group-phase success on solid defensive foundations, travel to the Czech capital needing to make the mental switch to the knock-out format and go for the away goal or goals that could be crucial to continuity. The clubs have met twice previously but this will be their first meeting in the UEFA Champions League/Champion Clubs’ Cup. In the 1972/73 Cup Winners’ Cup semi- final, AC Milan won both legs 1-0 to progress to the final where they beat Leeds United AFC also by a 1-0 scoreline. In the third round of the 1995/96 UEFA Cup, AC Milan won their home match 2-0 with two goals from George Weah, and drew the return leg 0-0 in Prague to move into the quarter- finals where they were beaten 3-2 on aggregate by FC Girondins de Bordeaux after being 2-0 up after the first leg. Alessandro Costacurta and Paolo Maldini played in both legs of the 1995/96 UEFA Cup tie for AC Milan, while Massimo Ambrosini started the second leg. AC Sparta goalkeeper Petr Kouba captained his side in both matches. AC Sparta have won just two of their 20 matches in UEFA club competitions against Italian sides, with seven draws and 11 defeats. Both wins came at home, the first against eventual winners Juventus by 1-0 in the 1984/85 Champion Clubs’ Cup, and the second success was in the group stage this season by 1-0 against S.S. Lazio. AC Sparta have played 10 home matches in UEFA club competitions against Italian clubs with two wins, five draws and three defeats – all of the latter by 1-0. AC Milan have a fine record against Czech Republic clubs in UEFA club competitions with six wins, a draw and a defeat in eight games, and with just one goal conceded – that was in their only defeat at FK Lokomotiv Kosice in the 1978/79 UEFA Cup 1st round, 2nd leg, but AC Milan still won the tie on penalties. This is AC Sparta Praha’s fifth season in the UEFA Champions League, and the first time that they have reached the knock-out stage of the competition. AC Sparta Praha have won only four of their last 14 UEFA Champions League games; have lost seven of their last 13; and have lost four of their last seven at home. However, AC Sparta Praha have won three of their last four UEFA Champions League games at home, and their last two in succession. AC Sparta Praha have lost the same number of UEFA Champions League at home as away from home (nine losses at home and nine losses away from home). AC Sparta Praha have not drawn any of their last 17 UEFA Champions League games at home, winning nine and losing eight in that time. UEFA Press Information First Knock-out Round First Leg Prague 24 February 2004 AC SPARTA PRAHA – AC MILAN They have kept four shut-outs in their last 15 UEFA Champions League home games. AC Sparta Praha have had a busy mid-season after the December UEFA Champions League Matchday 6 and the break in the Czech league. AC Sparta were especially busy on the transfer market, losing no fewer than nine players and signing six. The first departure was just six days after AC Sparta’s 1-0 win over S.S. Lazio and the player leaving was the hero of that game – Marek Kincl - who scored the winner in stoppage time; he has joined Russian side FC Zenit Sankt-Peterburg. Kincl was soon followed by Jan Flachbart, Jiri Rosicky and Michal Spit (all to FK Jablonec 97), Patrik Jezek (to SV Pasching of Austria), Pavel Krmas (to FK Teplice), Jiri Nemec (to FK Viktoria Zizkov), Martin Zboncak (to FC Dinamo Moskva) and on the day prior to the transfer deadline by Libor Sionko, who joined Grazer AK of Austria. Head coach Jiri Kotrba had lost almost all his forwards, but he made some important acquisitions. The most significant one is probably international forward Jiri Stajner’s return on loan from Hannover 96. Sparta also signed FK Teplice’s talented striker Jan Rezek and Czech Republic international midfielder Petr Vorisek from the same club. Just before the transfer deadline, Sparta took two young talents from second division side TJ Vitkovice – goalkeeper Tomas Grigar and striker Pavel Malcharek. In addition, AC Sparta brought back Under-21 international Tomas Sivok from his loan spell at FK Ceske Budejovice and signed a permanent deal with Slovakian international Vladimir Labant. The defender had been on loan to AC Sparta from English first division side West Ham United FC, but has now signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with the Czech champions. Unfortunately, Sparta could not register Rezek and Vorisek for the knock-out stage of the UEFA Champions League, as both have already played in this season’s UEFA Cup for FK Teplice. So, the coaching staff also gave chances during the pre-season to young players from Sparta’s own youth system – David Bicik, Ladislav Volesak and Zdenek Volek. Midfielders Volesak and Volek were added to the UEFA Champions League squad list. Miroslav Baranek (No. 23) was born on 10.11.73 and has 17 caps for the Czech Republic. He was signed by AC Sparta from SK Sigma Olomouc in summer 1997 and was with the club until 2000 in his first spell before moving to Germany with 1. FC Koln for two years (2000-02). He returned to AC Sparta but has since been injured. Jiri Stajner (No. 24) is back in the Czech Republic from Bundesliga club Hannover 96. He has won 14 caps for the Czech Republic and was born on 27.05.76. He was originally with SK Slovan Liberec and joined Hannover 96 in summer 2002. He had played 16 Bundesliga games (3 goals) for Hannover 96 in the 2003/04 season. AC Sparta returned to serious training in early January with a training camp and tournament in Maspalomas, Gran Canaria. In the semi-final, Sparta defeated Hamburger SV 4-3 with Rezek scoring two goals on his Sparta debut and Karel Poborsky adding two more. In the final of the annual tournament, Sparta beat RSC Anderlecht 2-1, with Vladimir Gluscevic scoring a double. In addition, AC Sparta managed to beat the Chinese Under-21 national team 1-0 (goal from Tomas Jun) in a friendly just before leaving the Canaries. Jiri Kotrba used all available players and was happy with the outcome: “The final against Belgians was not the same quality of football as the first match, but I had to give other players match practice as well. It’s sad we cannot use Rezek in the UEFA Champions League, as he showed how well he adapted to the team and what a good player he is.” Kotrba also welcomed back Miroslav Baranek from his very long injury break, although he played the striker as a right-back in the final. At the end of January, Jiri Kotrba took his team to Cyprus. Good weather and useful training were spiced with three friendlies, where the club continued their unbeaten run in winter matches. AC Sparta drew with PFC Levski Sofia 1-1 (goal by Poborsky from a UEFA Press Information First Knock-out Round First Leg Prague 24 February 2004 AC SPARTA PRAHA – AC MILAN penalty), beat FC National Bucuresti 4-2 (Jun, Sivok and Baranek 2) and drew against SW Bregenz 1-1 (Michalik). After returning to the Czech Republic, Sparta had a friendly against Servette FC and convincingly beat the Swiss team 6-0. All six goals were scored in the second half with Lukas Zelenka and Pavel Malcharek scoring one and Igor Gluscevic and Poborsky collecting two goals apiece. The Czech League resumed on 14th February with AC Sparta travelling to SFC Opava. The 6,802 spectators at the Opava stadium saw a thriller with Sparta coming out as 4-3 winners. Sparta took the lead four times in the game, but on three occasions Opava managed to come back. Poborsky was again on target twice (38 penalty, 85), with Stajner (50) and Rezek (63) both scoring their first official goals for the club. Jiri Kotrba fielded following line-up at SFC Opava: Blazek, Pergl, Hübschman, Johana, Labant, Poborsky, Zelenka, Vorisek (Sivok 86), Michalik, Stajner, Rezek (I.Gluscevic 80). The unused substitutes were Kouba, Poledica, Jun, Homola and Baranek. The bad news for Mr Kotrba was that both of his first choice central defenders picked up their fourth cautions of the season and were suspended for the next league match a week later. “We have a short bench in terms of central defenders, as Jiri Homola is the only other centre-back available in the first team.