line-ups

FC Viktoria Plzeň

Wiegele – Kadlec (30. Panoš, 62. Souaré), Krčík, Dweh, Doski – Hrošovský, Červ (C) – Višinský, Ladra (75. Valenta), Sojka – Toure (75. Vydra).

FC Slovan Liberec

Koubek (C) – Masopust (72. Sychra), N'Guessan, Mikula – Icha, Diakité (79. Rus), Stránský, Kayondo – Lexa (57. Špatenka), Krollis (57. Mašek), Mahmić (72. Letenay).

statistics

Goals: 13. Toure (Červ), 67. Sojka

Yellow cards: 16. Krčík (PLZ), 25. Kadlec (PLZ) – 34. Diakité (LIB), 39. Masopust (LIB), 66. Mahmić (LIB)

Referees: Volek – Paták, Kotalík.

Shots on goal: 7:3

Shots off target: 4:2

Corners: 3:2

Offside: 3:3

Fouls: 9:15.

Attendance: 8144

Viktoria confirmed their role as favourites and defeated Liberec 2–0 at home. After Toure’s first-half goal, Sojka added a second after the break, and the West Bohemians comfortably saw out the remainder of the match without any major complications.

The visitors kicked off the match. Viktoria had more of the ball early on and tried several crosses, but none of them led to any significant threat to Koubek’s goal. A set-piece routine in the 9th minute was stopped by the assistant referee’s flag. In the 14th minute, Červ dispossessed a defender on the edge of the box, went through one-on-one with Koubek, and then squared the ball to Toure, who tapped into an empty net to open the scoring. At the end of the 23rd minute, Hrošovský delivered a cross that found Ladra, who laid it off to Sojka. He attempted a curling shot – the deflected effort got the fans on their feet but ended up in the side netting. In the 26th minute, Toure and Višinský broke forward, with the latter getting the shot away, but his effort narrowly missed the post. In the 30th minute, Viktoria were forced into a substitution, with Panoš replacing Kadlec. In the 37th minute, Ladra produced a fine individual effort, beating two players before aiming for the far post, but Koubek was ready. Nothing major happened before halftime, and Viktoria went into the dressing room with a one-goal lead.

The first threat of the second half came from Liberec. In the 50th minute, Červ lost the ball in midfield, but fortunately Krčík blocked the resulting shot. Four minutes later, Toure broke through and beat Koubek, but his joy was cut short by the assistant referee’s flag for offside. In the 57th minute, Ladra delivered a nice cross to Sojka, who found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper. He still had to deal with a defender and, in the end, his shot went just wide. In the 64th minute, Hrošovský had a great chance after getting to a loose ball, but his effort was saved by the alert Koubek. In the 67th minute, Viktoria finally struck again – Sojka scored with a beautifully taken free kick, beating Koubek and doubling the home side’s lead. In the 78th minute, Viktoria produced a lovely one-touch combination (Sojka – Ladra – Hrošovský), which ended with Vydra, but his finish narrowly missed the target. Viktoria saw out the rest of the match comfortably and secured a 2–0 home win over Liberec.

Highlights

Photogallery