Siegl: We didn’t have to kneel in front of the Rangers. And I gave them a goal, I count it

When you say Glasgow Rangers, what do you think?

Immediately, our Sparta matches in the first preliminary round of the zero year of the Champions League in the autumn of 1991. At home, we won with luck 1: 0, actually a random goal by Jirka Němec, the revenge in Scotland was unforgettable. That atmosphere! When we were warming up, almost no one was in the galleries when we boarded, a boiling cauldron and thirty-five thousand fans. And then my progressive goal to 1: 2, when Máňa (Lumír Mistr) centered and I scored with such a hallucination with the help of the opponent, the ball just rolled into the goal. They saw each other further, they had a chance, Koubič held us (goalkeeper Petr Kouba), led two zero, but it leaned towards us. It was a reflection of the golden entry in the Sparta Chronicle, when we then eliminated the finalist Olympique Marseille and finished second in the group with Barcelona, ​​Benfika Lisbon and Dynamo Kyiv. Then the winner went straight to the final.

You report to the goal. But in official records, he is listed as Scott Nisbet’s own.

I ran it a bit too, I remember it well. I repeat, Máňa centered, I hit it on a penalty. I have it in my head, such goals are not forgotten. And if they attribute it to another, I don’t mind. I’m counting him. If I didn’t go there, he wouldn’t fall.

Do you still have a memory?

The owner of the club, Petr Mach, put us in “appropriate” brick suits, when we took pictures, we looked like a wall.

Is the then Glasgow Rangers similar to the current one?

It’s been many years, now it’s completely different. Back then it was a big team, a great team, just discuss their players. What a name, what a concept. The supporters were the vice-champions of Europe in 1998, representatives of the Soviet Union, stopper Oleg Kuznetsov and midfielder Alexei Mikhailovenko. You didn’t find players of African descent in it. So another change, we didn’t have to kneel.

So did you perceive what happened during the match with Slavia around the stopper Ondřej Kúdela?

Of course, I felt like everyone else. It is a pity that Kúdy did not keep his emotions. He should have told him in Czech and he would be calm. Or rather stay completely over things. If they lost, some frustration could be understood, but Slavia was clearly better. He must have told him something ugly, otherwise they wouldn’t be so upset. Unfortunately, he also closed the national team and lost the Euro. It wasn’t happy. On the other hand, we saw their terrible liquidation interventions. So some kneeling goes beyond me. I condemn it, because then he doesn’t watch football and just watch to see if bananas are thrown.

Does Sparta have a chance against the Scottish cult club?

I think he has. In my opinion, the group will decide between the two teams, it would be beautiful and convincing to score six points from each other. Too bad the draw in Copenhagen, it was not good to settle for the point, you could win there. It would be nice to have a win already. But I believe that Sparta will defeat the Rangers at home. I think they are weaker than for us.

Is Sparta missing a Horst Siegl-type shooter now?

Sparta still has attackers able to score a goal. Hložan (Adam Hložek) was injured for a long time last year, how many games he wasted, and yet he reached the top of the gunner’s table. So is Libor Kozák in front of him. In our time, it was more advantageous that we launched two in the attack. We seldom played one hippo. The pressure dissipated. We created chances and goals came from it. Today, someone scores two goals and it is already written what kind of shooter he is. That amazes me. If he proves it for two years, I’ll take it, but someone will fly out one season and we already see shooters in it.