Matchweek 6 Round-Up: Rosický Starts And Scores In The League After Seventeen Years
Tomáš Rosický last started a game for Sparta Prague on December 1st 2000, in the ‘S’ derby no less. His last goal came nearly a month prior, when he scored the only goal of the game (past Petr Cech no less) to help Sparta to a 1-0 victory over Chmel Blšany.
Almost seventeen years later, ‘little Mozart’ made his return to
Sparta’s starting eleven and in a moment of near perfect symmetry, it took him
seventeen minutes to open the scoring against Karviná.
Centre-back David Hovorka added a second in the second-half to give Sparta a much-needed victory. But the day belonged to Rosický, who, when substituted with five minutes left to play, left the field to a stand ovation.
Viktoria Plzeň made it six wins from six as they overcame Slovan Liberec early on Saturday afternoon. Pavel Vrba’s men raced into a 2-0 lead inside twenty-minutes as Michal Krmenčík and Milan Petržela combined with devastating effect. Krmenčík scored the first and then turned provider for the right-winger, who netted his first of the league season with a smart finish through the legs of Ondřej Kolář.
After the initial one-way traffic, Liberec grew into the game and caused Plzeň a number of problems. However, the 2011-12 Czech champions failed to find the back of the net, spurning chance after chance. Club captain Vladimír Coufal came the closest to scoring, only to see his rasping volley saved by Matúš Kozáčik in the Viktoria goal.
With twelve minutes to go, Jan Kopic made it 3-0 and secured the three points for Viktoria Plzeň. The win sees Plzeň move six points clear at the top.
Slavia Prague remain in second, despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Sigma Olomouc at the Andrův stadion. Milan Škoda opened the scoring nine minutes into the game and could have doubled Slavia’s lead not long afterwards. However, an inspired performance from Olomouc helped keep the reigning champions’ advantage to a minimum. Sigma drew level just before half-time when Václav Jemelka bundled the ball over the line.
Along with Slavia Prague and Viktoria Plzeň, Zlín are in Europa League action this midweek and Ševci warmed up in style with a 2-0 home win over Teplice with new signing Mirzad Mehanović getting a goal on his debut.
There was late drama in Jihlava as Vysočina came from 2-1 down, with just a handful of minutes left to play, to record a stunning 3-2 win over Dukla Prague. There were similar events in Ostrava as Baník scored twice in four minutes to leave Jablonec stunned and ensure that both sides would have a share of the spoils.
After a terrible start to the season, Mladá Boleslav recorded their first victory of the season, a result that lifts the Central Bohemian club off the bottom of the table (on goal difference). Tomáš Přikryl, Jan Chramosta and debutant Ruslan Mingazov all scored, condemning Zbrojovka Brno to a 3-0 defeat.