Champion League preliminary: Slavia Prague beat Zilina 4:3 in penalty shootout

For a long time Slavia Prague, one of the most well-known Czech football clubs, has tried but failed to enter the prestigious and profitable Champions League. This year, the sixth opportunity, the Slovak champion Zilina stood in Slavia's way. After a first leg nil-nil draw in Slovakia, Slavia had a chance to move on on Wednesday night at Prague's Rosicky Stadium.

Photo: CTK

Slavie do toho echoed throughout the Rosicky Stadium in Prague as Slavia faced Slovak Champion MSK Zilina on Wednesday night. It was the second leg of the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round in which Slavia was seeking, for the sixth time in the club's history, to advance to the group stage in the prestige European club competition.

On the night, Zilina started pushing right from the opening minutes but Slavia's defence was tight. The first opportunity came already in the 6th minute when Slavia's Petr Janda advanced to a good shooting position in front of the Slovak goal but was eventually rid of the ball. Some ten minutes later, Krajicek crossed the ball in the penalty area looking for Slavia's forwards, but both Krejcik and Senkerik missed. But Zilina's answer was quick, as in the 17th minute, a free kick by Jez against Slavia gave the goalkeeper Vaniak a chance to shine. The biggest opportunities for Slavia then came before the end of the first half, but neither the Prague team's captain Vlcek nor Senkerik managed to drive the ball in the net. In the 40th minute, the Portuguese referee Duarte Gomes booked Vladimer Smicer for a slide into Jez. This means that Smicer, for whom this was the fist home game for Slavia after 11 years, will miss the next match against the strong Ajax Amsterdam.

Photo: CTK

After the half-time break, Slavia's pressure intensified and resulted in a series of corner kicks, executed by Kalivoda, but, again, the score did not change, much to the disappointment of the crowd.

With no goal scored, the game was sent to extra time, but both Slavia and Zilina were now purely concentrated on not receiving rather than scoring. Despite this, Slavia managed to put Zilina's goal in danger twice, with a header and a free kick by Volesak. This meant that the advancing team was determined by a penalty shootout. After the first series of five kicks in which both teams scored three times, Slavia's captain Stanislav Vlcek placed the ball on the penalty mark in the sixth series.

Photo: CTK

And in it went! Now everything was up to Benjamin Vomacka, a Czech defender in Zilina's line-up. If he misses, that's it for the Slovak champions!

And Vomacka sends the ball high over Slavia's goal. It is 4:3 for Slavia Prague and the stadium erupts into celebrations.

This victory over Zilina sent Slavia Prague to the last qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. Next week, the Czech club will face Ajax Amsterdam, a much stronger team than Zilina, and in two weeks time, Slavia fans in Prague and elsewhere in the Czech Republic will see whether their club finally makes to the Champions League.