Kúdela´s penalty secured narrow win in Liberec

With several players missing due to health problems Slavia started with an unusual 3-5-2 line-up with Holeš, Kacharaba and Kúdela as centre-backs and Masopust and Oscar as right and left back. Tecl and Yusuf formed the attacking duo.

Slavia started better into the game and it was former Liberec midfielder Michal Beran who created first chance for Slavia, when he tried to curl his shot behind Knobloch, but aimed wide. With 20 minutes on the clock Hromada sent another shot from behind the box, but the ball missed the right post.

After 26 minutes Stanciu sent another curled shot with his right foot after a quick pass by Tecl, but Knobloch dived left and blocked his low effort.

Two minutes into the second half Mosquera got enough space to shoot from outside the box after a mistake in Slavia build-up, but Kolář blocked his effort. A minute later the same player sent the ball one meter above the crossbar from a free kick.

And for the third time Mosquera had his biggest chance in the 51st minute, but he fired the ball wide after Slavia couldn’t clear the ball following a cross from the right wing.

With many fouls and misplaced passes both teams failed to create bigger chances after the interval. One hour into the game Slavia made 3 substitutions in the midfield with Provod, Ševčík and Traoré coming on the pitch and a minute later the Red-whites could break the deadlock, but Kuchta’s effort after Oscar’s cross was blocked by a defender.

In the 65th minute Traoré set up Tecl behind Slovan defence and Knobloch had to show a good save against our forward, but Tecl was caught offside.

Slavia put Liberec under pressure and started to create one chance after another. In the 79th minute Jan Kuchta got the ball alone in front of Slovan goalkeeper after a serie of short passes, but Knobloch blocked his effort.

Only 4 minutes later it was Kuchta again who was brought down inside of the box by Pourzitidis and the referee blew for penalty after a VAR check. Ondřej Kúdela who returned to the squad after his injury from international break fired the ball into the top left corner from the spot.

Slavia did nt allow Liberec into any other chances for the rest of the game and won 1-0 in one of the most difficult games of the league season. The Red-whites are now on top of the league 18 points ahead of Jablonec (with 3rd Sparta playing 2 games less).