Sparta Prague Spring to the Top of the Table

  

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Tuesday 28 October 2025 at the epet Arena, Prague
Result	AC Sparta Praha 2 Bohemians Praha 1
Competition	Czech First League
Hopstats	Ground 811 on the lifetime list and my first in Czechia.
Context
A Prague derby. The visitors are in mid-table and the hosts will go top with a win.
Match Report
The match was preceded by some typical continental-style tifo action. Red flares surrounded a semicircular banner with an underlying caption, “diky tato ze nesjem smazka” – which as far as I can tell using various translation aids should be interpreted as the son saying to his Spartan father, “Thanks, this is why I’m not a loser”. The Bohemian fan is portrayed as a crazed weed smoker. Here's a short video clip. When the smoke cleared, Sparta started on the front foot and created two chances early on. Then Bohemians caught them on the break down their left, leading to an excellent stadium-silencing finish by Vlasij Sinjavskij. However, VAR painfully intervened and the goal was ruled out for a foul on Jakub Martinec in the build-up. Sparta kept pressing and it needed a wonderful save from Bohemian keeper Michal Reichl to deny them with a twisting one-handed tip over the bar. Much of the home threat funnelled through Angelo Preciado on the right flank. He is attack-minded for sure, and it was the space behind him that had given the visitors their earlier disallowed goal. He sometimes angered the fans with his decision-making and the quality of his crosses, but to be fair he always wanted the ball and never hid. Bohemians threatened once again down that left flank, before Sparta had the ball in the net themselves. Martinec headed in from a corner routine before VAR intervened again and ruled it out for a foul. How this game was still 0-0 is hard to understand, but it was eventually Bohemians who broke the deadlock. It was again a move down the left, and a goal for Ales Cermak. It looked a bit of a scuffed shot at first glance, but the home keeper had no chance. Sparta almost equalised immediately with a superb through ball to Martinec who had been pushed upfield. His shot was just wide and the home side left the field to a chorus of whistles at half-time. Bohemians' choreo display, approaching half-time Half-time was enlivened by a fan winning a 1 million koruna prize for kicking the ball from the centre spot into a small goal. He’d missed from the two shorter distances. Let's hope the organisers had insured themselves. The home fans, orchestrated by their capo and two drummers, kept up the singing and were very happy that the equaliser came before the hour mark. It was very much deserved on balance of play and it was Jan Kuchta’s name on the scoresheet. Then it was a moment of redemption for Preciado, who came up with a moment of brilliance to beat his defender at the byeline. His cross was headed into his own net by Jan Vondra but there were others queuing up behind him. I wondered whether the floodgates would now open, and it took another great save by Reichl to keep the score at 2-1. A third Sparta goal from a slicing move right through the middle of the defence was ruled out by the VAR squad once again, this time for offside. It would have been a second for Kuchta. As most of my matches are in the lower leagues, I haven’t had a lot of personal experience of the VAR procedures. I’m very conflicted about it. It significantly worsens the experience for the on-site spectators, but then again if it means that scorelines are fairer … No time for on-pitch pontification though. Sparta managed to hold on for the win with only minor scares. No-one moved at the final whistle and we went through a post-match ritual. Spar-ta-Prah-a scans to the tune of Sweet Caroline but other than that I couldn’t read the onscreen Czech captions quickly enough to join in. The team lined up facing the Ultras and there was some mutual appreciation going on. I wonder what it’s like after a home loss? I left the stadium as I’d arrived, on foot for a 30-40 min walk back to the Old Square. A tram ride would have saved me a few minutes. Be warned, it's uphill to the ground with a lot of steps. I’m really glad I managed to get a game in during my short stay in this excellent city. I’d bought the ticket online beforehand and it is managed through an app on a smartphone. It had been fairly easy to do with a bit of help from Google translate, and the final cost for a seat in section C7 was just over £22 once conversion fees had been added. It was a thoroughly engaging evening’s entertainment.
So What?
Sparta go top, Bohemians stay in mid-table
Pix
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats Update
The background to this, and the latest keeper top colour league table, is here on this dedicated page. Today Blue beats Yellow. Pre-match Prediction based on Keeper Top Colour: Prediction: Home Win Was the prediction correct? Yes % of correct predictions so far 48% (96 from 199)
Learn Czech Through Football
Vstupenky – tickets Tabulka – table Držení míče – possession (lit: holding the ball) Střely – shots Fauly – fouls Vyhrané souboje – tackles (lit: battles won) Střely na branku – shots on target Neuznaný gól – disallowed goal Jsme zklamaní – we are disappointed Domácí nadále útočili – the home team continued to attack   And of course … Moje vznášedlo je plné úhořů – my hovercraft is full of eels #iykyk