Football holidays have started! On Tuesday evening Viktoria Plzeň commenced their fights in the group stage of the Champions League . The first match was played at the sold out Doosan Arena and Viktoria welcomed Manchester City. Pavel Vrba missed injured defenders, namely Marián Čišovský and Radim Řezník. As a centre back Lukáš Hejda got a chance to show his abilities as well as František Rajtoral as a right back. Marek Bakoš appeared in the lineup in the ofensive.

Football holidays have started! On Tuesday evening Viktoria Plzeň commenced their fights in the group stage of the Champions League . The first match was played at the sold out Doosan Arena and Viktoria welcomed Manchester City. Pavel Vrba missed injured defenders, namely Marián Čišovský and Radim Řezník. As a centre back Lukáš Hejda got a chance to show his abilities as well as František Rajtoral as a right back. Marek Bakoš appeared in the lineup in the ofensive.

Viktoria´s fans stayed frozen when hearing the Champions League anthem at the Doosan Arena and the whole stadium was coloured in red and blue. After that the fight between the Czech champion and the Citizens started. Samir Nasri first shot to goal but missed the target. 4 minutes later Matúš Kozáčik had to save Navas´ shot from nearly 20 metres. Citizens had a corner after which Yaya Touré´s header made difficult moments to Kozáčik but fortunately his shot flew above the crossbar. On 21 minutes Viktoria had a free kick after Milan Petržela suffered a foul. Pavel Horváth executed and made Joe Hart busy at least for a while but there was nobody else to finish the action. 2 minutes later Matúš Kozáčik showed a perfect save when having destroyed Edin Džeka´s header from very close distance. On 26 minutes Plzeň was really lucky when Sargio Agüero hit the upright. The ball soon travelled to Aleksandr Kolarov who immediately shot the goal. Matúš Kozáčik was again immaculate. There were some more chances till the end of the half-time but the result stayed unchanged 0:0.

Citizens hit Viktoria 3 minutes after coming back from the dressing rooms. Agüero got into a quick break and passed the ball to Edin Džeko. This shooter from Bosnia and Herzegovina easily scored to the back upright and Manchester went to one-goal leading. Džeko wanted more. Soon after that he shot from the edge of the penalty area but aimed off the goal. On 52 minutes the score could be equal when Jan Kovařík hit the pass from František Rajtoral. His shot seemed like a goal one but was deflected by a defender to a corner. Unfortunately, the score was changed by the Citizens again. Yaya Touré shot from middle distance and Matúš Kozáčik was helpless. 0:2 for Manchester. 2 minutes later Matúš performed another perfect save when having destroyed Sergio Agüero´s attempt. It did not work on 58 minutes of the game when Agüero had an effort on goal again and was successful 0:3. The answer from Viktoria was an attempt from 20 metres by Jan Kovařík. The midfielder shot above the crossbar. The same repeated on the other side of the pitch. During following minutes the game moved mostly to the midfield and without bigger chances. Agüero again had an effort on goal on 88 minutes. Viktoria also appeared in a promising chance in the last minute but with no success.

Viktoria entered the Champions League group stage with a defeat from Manchester City 0:3. They will meet CSKA Moscow in the next round.

FC Viktoria Plzeň - FC Manchester City 0:3

Half-time: 0:0
Goals: 48. Džeko, 53. Touré, 58. Agüero
YC: Limberský - Kolarov, Fernandinho
Referee: Paolo Tagliavento - Mauro Tonolini, Lorenzo Manganelli - Andrea De Marco, Paolo Valeri (all Italy)
Spectators: 11 281
FC Viktoria Plzeň: Kozáčik - Rajtoral, Procházka, Hejda (66. Hubník), Limberský - Horváth, Hořava - Petržela, Kolář (60. Ďuriš), Kovařík - Bakoš (83. Tecl). Head coach Pavel Vrba.
FC Manchester City: Hart - Zabaleta, Kompany, Nastasić, Kolarov - Navas (67. Milner), Touré (80. García), Fernandinho - Agüero, Džeko (83. Negredo), Nasri. Head coach Manuel Pellegrini.