Last-second point

Game against Zlín was a 2016/17 debut for Slavia as the match with Zbrojovka Brno a week late had been abandoned due to heavy rain. And Slavia could not wish a better opponent to begin their season. Zlín did not score against the sewn-ones in last five games and lost to Slavia in eight previous matches.

Despite this statistics, Zlín started the game better and took the lead through Tomáš Poznar 18 minutes into the opening half. Vukadinovič went through on the right wing, sent his pass to Poznar and Pavlenka did not manage to punch his shot to the countermovement away.

The situation became even worse in 30 minutes when Zlín doubled their lead with Lukáš Holík’s precise shot from distance.

Slavia manager Dušan Uhrin sent Dušan Švento instead of Jan Mikula for the second half. Slovakian left-back and national team member returned to Eden after seven years spent in Austria and Germany.

Slavia improved their performance in the second half but failed to create clear opportunities for a long time. The goal did not come until 71st minute when Mešanovič prepared the ball for van Kessel inside the penalty area and the Dutch forward scored his first goal in Czech First liga.

The fans in Eden had to wait for the equaliser to the very last minute. On 90+4 minutes Zlín defence could not clear the ball and Muris Mešanovič directed his lucky shot towards the right post.

The 2-2 draw thus means one point for Slavia from the delayed league debut. But there are games to come to make an impression – On Sunday August 14 in Jihlava and most importantly on August 18 against Anderecht in the first round of Europa League play-off.