Slavia Praha head coach Jindrich Trpisovsky spoke at his pre-match press conference on the eve of the second leg of their Europa League last 16 tie against AC Milan, asking for the ‘bravest performance possible’.
Milan won the first leg 4-2 at San Siro but the fact that they scored four goals, won the game and walked off the pitch perhaps not feeling best pleased says a lot about how proceedings went, especially after the red card inside 30 minutes for Slavia.
Olivier Giroud found the opener with a header, then Doudera equalised, but Tijjani Reijnders and Ruben Loftus-Cheek struck in quick succession before the interval to give the Rossoneri a 3-1 lead at the break.
It looked like the floodgates had opened, but then Schranz halved the deficit for the Czech side before Christian Pulisic’s tap-in gave Milan some relief as the game finished 4-2.
Trpisovsky – who said after the first leg that he is sure Slavia will win the return game – spoke at a press conference the afternoon before the game and he answered questions from reporters, with his comments relayed by MN24.
How are you feeling ahead of the game?
“In the Czech Republic everyone is looking forward to the match against a world-class team. We want to consolidate what was done in Milan. We want to go through, bring out the best in ourselves, offer the bravest performance possible.”
Have you got any players back from injury?
“We recover Zafeiris and Ševčík. It’s a match that everyone wants to recover for. They could be available for part of the match. For Lukáš Masopust it is rather unlikely.
“For us they are fundamental players, we will not run the risk of keeping them aside for a longer period. The same question mark concerns Ivan Schranz, we are trying to do everything to call him up.”
What system will you play?
“With the return to the four-back system we looked for the wings, we brought Doudis on the wing. Tomáš Vlček is doing very well on the right side of defence and allows us to switch to a three-man defence during the match. He allows us to have the right wing upfield and the left further back.
“I’m happy for him, he had already done well in the team in the past and has returned after loan periods. I believe there are others like Denis Halinský. Tomáš Vlček is ready for big matches, for national team football. He learned a lot in those six months.”
Have you thought about going to penalties?
“I hate penalties, as a fan I like them. As a coach, I don’t want to experience them. At home it is even more difficult, the pressure on the shooter is enormous.
“I would like extra time after the first leg, because it means erasing the opponents’ advantage and giving them more minutes. If I had to imagine a scenario, then we will get to extra time and we will decide there.”
They are capable of going through. If they repeat what they did in the first leg and some luck comes their way, it will be possible for them to continue on.
Yeah Milan sucks, what a crap team
Meanwhile Leverkusen drew against Carrier bag but you people here still think they are the best team in the world