He has not played in a competitive match for more than a year due to injury, he will be 32 years old in January, yet left back Jan Bořil hopes to return to the pitch. And most of all during his recovery, he remembers the double match with Sevilla in the round of 16 of the 2018/19 Europa League.
Slavia reached the round of 16 of the Europa League over the Belgian Genk. After a goalless draw at home in the second game, they lost due to a mistake by Ondřej Kolář, but Vladimír Coufal started a 4:1 turnaround with a goal at 1:1, in which Milan Škoda was the main hero with two goals.
The doubleheader with Sevilla was full of twists and turns. The home team led twice in Spain, the home team led twice in Prague. In the end, it went to extra time, in which Sevilla had the upper hand thanks to the goal rule on the opponent’s field. Ibrahim Traoré shot the lead in extra time.
“I still remember looking into the stands after the game and seeing people crying with happiness. In such a way, to clear the entire competition from the path of the favorite, a team that has won it six times, it can probably only happen once in a lifetime. They thought they were going to run us over like a steamroller, but they were damn wrong.” Jan Bořil told the club’s website.
The Sišiva team were also accompanied by a large dose of luck against Sevilla, which is indispensable for the success of an outsider. The first away goal was scored by a defending player, in the second case Alex Král had no idea that he placed the ball behind Tomáš Vaclík’s back with his shoulder.
And it was probably fate. When it seemed that Slavia was going to finish, in a confusing situation the ball bounced into the net after Jaromír Zmrhal’s free kick. He jumped over the leg of a confused Simon Kjaer, while the television cameras gave him enough time to kick away.
“When Ibra Traoré scored that grubby goal in the last minute and the whole bench ran onto the field to celebrate, I admit that for the first time in my life I was on the edge of football,” continued one of Slavia’s captains.
When Sevilla scored 3-2 in extra time, some Slavist fans left the stadium. In their defense, some of them were on the last train, as the match started at 9 p.m. And they lost a lot.
When the red and whites turned the score 4:3, unrepeatable emotions broke out in the stadium. The stadium screamed for maybe three minutes and the players and the implementation team ran to the cauldron. “That’s not possible,” echoed from the stands, and more than one home supporter shed a tear.
“I have this match at the top of my list, but it’s true that people remind me much more of the goal in the preliminary round of the Champions League against Cluj, and especially in the group stage of Barcelona,” added Boril.
Source: SK Slavia Prague
