Sparta started Europa League with a draw

Sparta’s coach, Pavel Vrba, gave a chance to Ondřej Čelůstka in the starting eleven. He recently recovered from the injury, and it was his first match for the first team this season. Lukáš Haraslín started in the starting line-up for the first time since he joined Sparta.

The home team had a dangerous chance already in the first minute. Bruss sent a dangerous shoot pass to the penalty area. The ball finished tightly missed the left side of Nita’s goal.  

Sparta could score in the 18th minute. Pešek found Hancko’s head from the corner, however, his attempt went above the target.

Pešek tried to shoot from a dangerous position in the 30th minute, but his shot was not accurate.

None of the teams wanted to make any mistakes in the first half. We have not seen any huge goal chances. Teams went to dressing rooms with a score of 0-0.

The second half was similar to the first one. The first interesting chance came in the 70th minute. Karlsson tried to check Hermansen’s readiness from a short distance. The Danish goalkeeper did not have any trouble catching this attempt.

Pešek sent a hidden shot from behind Brøndby’s defenseman three minutes later, but he was not successful.

Sparta played more actively than its opponent and wanted to win this game. However, the home defense played well and did not allow Sparta’s offensive to create many chances.

There was a huge chance from the corner kick in the 80th minute. Hancko's header almost finished inside Hermansen’s goal, but he made an important save at the last moment. What a great chance it was!

There was another big opportunity for Sparta in the additional time when Hložek shot from inside the penalty area, but he did not hit the ball as he expected, and it went directly to the hands of the home goalkeeper.

Nothing else happened in this game and Sparta started the group stage with a draw in Brøndby.

Yellow cards: Rosted – Souček, Čelůstka, Pavlović. Referees: Stavrev – Kostadinov, Lika (all of the from North Macedonia). Attendance: 18867.

Brøndby: Hermansen – Rosted (75. Borkeeiet), Maxsö, Tshiembe – Bruus, Frendrup, Radošević, Slimane (69. Cappis), Mensah (85. Gammelby) – Uhre (69. Divković), Hedlund (75. Pavlović).

Sparta: Nita – Wiesner, Čelůstka, Hancko, Polidar (38. Vindheim) – Pešek, Pavelka, Souček, Sáček (90. Drchal), Haraslín (64. Karlsson) – Hložek.