SPARTA PRAHA VS KRASNODAR - PREVIEW

Sparta Praha vs Krasnodar

Europa League

Generali Arena. Thursday 18th February

Kick Off: 20:05

Sparta Praha remained unbeaten during the group stages of the Europa League and qualified in second place behind German side Schalke 04. Their opponents Krasnodar, of Russia, topped Group C which included Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund, despite losing to the German side in the opening game. This game is poised to be a very close, tight and tense affair and the likelihood of the sides cancelling each other out seems high with both performing so well in the competition so far. Both teams are coming into this tie on the back of mid season breaks which could mean both look a bit rusty to begin with, though did play a league game this weekend which they won 2-1 so perhaps they are the better prepared side.

HEAD TO HEAD

This will be the first competitive match between Praha and Krasnodar, but they have met in two previous pre season friendlies. Back in 2013 Krasnodar ran out 3-2 winners in Praha and then in 2014 the sides drew 1-1 in Russia, so make of that what you will. Sparta haven’t performed well against Russian teams in the past, winning two and losing four of their eleven encounters. Krasnodar are fairly new to the European game and therefore have never met a team from the Czech Republic before.

PREDICTION

There have been no updates in terms of injuries or suspensions so we have to assume that both teams will go into this game with near full strength squads. Both teams have recently ended their mid season breaks to jump straight back into European competition, so their current forms don’t count for anything as they have almost all been friendlies. Praha did return in time to play one league game before the Krasnodar match, they won away at Zlin 2-1 with Brabec and Šural scoring in the second half to give Sparta the lead after going 1-0 down in the first period. In terms of top performers for both sides in this competition so far we need look no further than Lafata for the hosts and Mamaev for Krasnodar. The veteran Czech striker has scored five goals in Europe this season, whereas his Russian counterpart has netted six for Krasnodar (four have come from the penalty spot though). I’m struggling to find much to separate these teams so I’m going to back a 1-1 draw, which would not be a bad result for the visitors who will be confident of winning the tie in the reverse fixture.