It’s already such a classic. If it weren’t for the collision with Monaco’s Slovakian goalkeeper Lukáš Hradecký, after which the home goalkeeper had to substitute, you wouldn’t even have noticed the native of Karlovy Vary.
Olympique did not start the match very actively, losing fights and facing attacks from Monaco.
But then came the 38th minute, Šulc floated to the back post at a corner and sent the ball under the crossbar with his thigh. After the break, with the score already tied again, he leaned into the ball before the goal and cleared it exactly to the right hand of the falling goalkeeper.
“I don’t usually score goals like that, but Ainsley left me the ball and shouted: ‘Shoot, shoot’. So I did it and it paid off,” the club’s current top scorer told the club’s website.
If only that. In the scorers’ table of the entire competition, the former Pilsen footballer is already fourth with eight hits. Just three goals behind leader Mason Greenwood of Marseille.
“I hope that Pavel will also be the best scorer in the league, because that would mean that he will score a lot more goals, which will only help us,” said teammate Corentin Tolisso.
Head coach Paulo Fonseca himself also sang words of praise to the newly 25-year-old Czech representative.
“Pavel can play in almost any attacking position. He is not a traditional central striker, but he is very effective. He can draw the ball into the goal and when he has the opportunity, he scores. He is an atypical player, but extremely important for us,” said the Portuguese after the 3:1 win.
The fans and the coach have high hopes for the arrival of the 19-year-old Brazilian Endrick, who came to Lyon during Christmas from Real Madrid, and was already sitting on the bench on Saturday.
Fonseca thinks that their cooperation with Šulec could work very well on the field in the future.
“Both are completely different types of players. The goal is to integrate Endrick and be even better than we are now,” added the coach.
