Thursday evening, at 20:00, Slavia Prague receives Chelsea’s visit to the first quarter of the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals. At the best European performance in modern history, Slavia hopes to block the attacks of English, who are not used to making high scores in UEL travels. The game could be more balanced than we expected!
Winner of the Central European Cup in 1938 (competition disbanded in 1992), Slavia defied all the predictions this season and is crafting a remarkable self-report. The Czechs, who are also legalized by Alexandru Mitrita, have won big victories with Bordeaux (1-0), FC Copenhagen (1-0), Zenit (2-0) and Genk (4-1), before eliminating Sevilla of the current UEFA Europa League season. After 2-2 in Spain, Slavia made again 2-2 with Andalusians on Sinobo Stadium, but the Czechs scored twice in extra time and they were forced to score 4-3! In this European season, Slavia Prague lost only two games, with Bordeaux and Zenit, away.
Băltu played 18 championship matches for Slavia and was an important player for white-reds, where the former defender from FC Botosani, Ngadeu, is also legitimate. The Slavia team also has experienced players such as Kudela, Husbauer, Stoch, Tecl and Skoda, and the Czechs form a homogeneous group with an almost irreproachable organization. With medical problems, Baluta may be missing again from the Chelsea luxury duel. The Londoners have mostly used only reserves this season of the Europa League, and the Frenchman Olivier Giroud is even the scorer of the competition with 9 goals scored. Brazilian Willian is second in the top 6 decisive steps with 6 assists so far. Chelsea has 13 wins and a draw in the last 14 games of the Europa League, Londoners start favorites in the Czech game with a series of 7 matches without defeat in the competition.
Slavia has been well prepared for this historic duel, and lately has been a big day internally: 5-1 with Dukla Prague, 5-0 with Karvina, 2-0 at Pribram and 4-0 with Ostrava are a few of the results that should worry Maurizio Sarri. Chelsea comes in a 3-0 lead with Brighton in the championship, and in the previous round of the competition has gone without emotion of Dinamo Kiev, with a general score of 8-0. Even with a number of reserves, Chelsea has made its simple life this year in the Europa League, but this time we expect the Italian manager on Stamford Bridge to align the best “11” possibly on Thursday night.
It will be the first European duel between the two bands, and Chelsea has three wins and three draws in the six games played against the Czech teams so far. With no home defeat in the current UEL edition, Slavia exudes the thought of a “double” deal with the Londoners. Coach Tripsovsky said, “This is the opponent we wanted, we know how to tackle the parties.” The winner of this “double” will be in the semifinals with either Benfica or Eintracht Frankfurt. The hosts will miss the Suscek suspension, while Sarri has emotions only with Barkley’s medical problems.
PREDICTION: Chelsea to win @ 1.65
