Slavist football player Václav Jurečka admitted that his successful goal with his foot in the match of the fifth round of the European League group in Tiraspol was also the work of chance. The 29-year-old striker scored in his fourth consecutive competitive game and is happy to be getting into scoring form.
In an interview for the club’s television, he mainly praised the fact that Prague won 3:2 over Šeriff in the setup and leapfrogged AS Rome by two points at the top of the table.
In the 19th minute, Jurečka opened the score of the match after promptly directing a low cross from defender Jan Bořil into the net with his foot.
“It was a bit of a coincidence. Bóř made a great cross, I was there, I just wanted to prolong it a bit. I am of course happy that it turned out like this,” said Jurečka.
“In any case, we had far more chances in the first half and we could have gone to the cabins with a score of 3-0, not 1-1. It’s a shame that we conceded a goal at the end of the half to make it 1-1, that made us a little uneasy. We caught a bit of uncertainty . But we showed a strong spirit and won. It’s all the more valuable, I like this kind of victory,” added a member of the wider staff of the Czech national team.
His team turned the score around in the fifth minute of regulation from a penalty kick converted by substitute Muhamed Tijani.
“We made the match significantly more complicated. We were even a bit lucky, the opponent offered us a gift from heaven at the end in the form of a completely meaningless penalty. Thank God that we won, because otherwise it would probably have been a sloppy match,” Jurečka was quoted by the club’s website from an interview with journalists.
The best scorer of the last league year is getting back to shooting comfort after an embarrassing start to this season.
“I think that in the eyes of many people, I still don’t have the form from last season, because everyone thinks that I will score four goals every game. So there is still a long way to that form. I’m happy that I’m falling there. I’m mainly happy, that we managed it,” Jurečka praised himself.
The match was played in deep winter and in front of half-empty stands. Around 150 Slavist fans were very loud. “Toward the end, even the half-naked were chanting. Great respect for me, hats off to them,” said Jurečka
“Otherwise, I was cold. Unfortunately, the fact that the number of fans is not the same is also part of that. Maybe today was a bit like a warm-up match, but it was a match in Europe, that’s why we had to prepare for it,” said Jurečka.
His team at the top of the table jumped two points ahead of AS Rome. If they beat Servette Geneva at home in 14 days, regardless of the result of the second match, they will go from first place directly to the round of 16.
“Before the last game, we have the advantage of both the home environment and the two points ahead of Rome. Now we have to do everything to not waste it, win the group and have a certain round of 16,” added Jurečka.
