Heartbreaker in Europa League

Sparta Praha's European hopes took another hit as the home team drew a 3-3 game with the Swiss club Lausanne Sports Oct. 21.

The UEFA Europa League may be an unwanted distraction for some of the bigger clubs around the Continent, but make no mistake, for Sparta and Lausanne, it's massive.

Sparta entertained the Swiss side at Generali Arena and were looking to bounce back from their latest European defeat at the hands of group leader CSKA Moscow. Lausanne had unhappy memories of Prague entering the game, as their only visit to the Czech capital resulted in a 4-0 defeat back in 1965. Even more worrying was their current form in the Europa League, as they sat at the bottom of the group with no goals scored. But their final-second equalizing goal against Sparta has things looking up for the Swiss.

Sparta, the defending Gambrinus liga champions, have been in a slump domestically. They were recently knocked out of the Czech Cup by lowly Baník Sokolov, and that was followed by a 2-0 home league defeat to Teplice.

Sparta started the game attacking, but it was the road team who took a surprise lead within the first five minutes. Lausanne center back Sebastien Meoli headed home a corner as Sparta's defense was caught napping. But it wasn't long before Sparta leveled the score through Libor Sionko's good work down the right-hand side leading to star striker Bony Wilfried equalizing the game after 10 minutes.

There has been much speculation that Sparta's Wilfried will join another Swiss club, Young Boys Bern, during the January transfer window, so all eyes were on the Ivory Coast international as he looked to keep up his impressive scoring record of seven goals in 12 games.

Midfielder Juraj Kucka had an excellent first half and was running the show. Two quick-fire goals inside a four-minute span put Sparta in control of the game. First, Kucka scored a well-deserved goal at the 21-minute mark, and then Wilfried scored three minutes later as he waited for the keeper to commit before deftly chipping the ball into the back of the net.

Sparta started the second half slowly, the free flowing attacking football of the first half a distant memory as Lausanne crept back into the game.

At the 75-minute mark, Martin Steuble struck for the Swiss side, curling the ball with his left foot around the keeper from 25 yards. Suddenly, it was 3-2, and Lausanne was gathering momentum. Fast paced end-to-end play followed with Sparta creating its own fair share of scoring chances.

Sparta substitute Leony Kweuke played a lovely through ball to Sionko, but Sionko tried to cut back inside and scuffed the chance. The fourth official signaled for four minutes' injury time, and with the very last kick of the game, Lausanne somehow scrambled in an equalizing goal.

This sparked wild celebrations on the away bench and among the 100 or so traveling fans. It was a bitter end for Sparta, who had created enough chances to win two games.

"What we showed in the end was football suicide, and we're very disappointed," Sparta Coach Josef Chovanec said. "We were very close to three points. ... Such a result hurts."

Kucka was a forlorn figure after the game.

"The first half we managed well; we managed to score three times," Kucka said. "But after the break, it was much worse. We had other chances, but we always took the wrong turn. It's a terrible shame."

Sparta now faces two tricky Europa League road games. Next week, they travel to Switzerland to exact revenge on Lausanne. They then face a tough game in Italy at Palermo, before finishing out the group stage hosting CSKA Moscow, who have yet to drop a point and now lead the group.

Mark Smith can be reached at
features@praguepost.com