**NOTE THE EARLY KICK OFF TIME**
Our European knockout adventures begin on Thursday, with a rip to the Czech capital of Prague to face Sparta. We've met them before, in 2010/11 we played them in the last 32 of the Europa League under newly appointed Kenny Dalglish and won 1-0 over the 2 legs, courtesy of a late 2nd leg winner from Dirk Kuyt. Not really an occasion to dwell on for too long. Instead I wanted to talk abut Liverpool's connection with the Czechia Republic, and the city of Prague in particular.
If you're old like me, then cast your minds back to the glorious summer of 1996. Glorious until I got my A level results anyway...but still, an endless summer, lots of sunshine, Euro 96 and a lot of new names that were unfamiliar to our eyes suddenly becoming household names. The unfancied Czech Republic qualified out of a group containing Germany and Italy, took ut the dark horses of Portugal, dumped France out on penalties and improbably made the final, where they took the lead through a penalty from some long haired God by the name of Patrik Berger, before eventually falling to Germany in extra time.
A Premier League dominated by British and Irish players, where most foreign imports were Scandanvian suddenly became more cosmopolitan, and Liverpool played their part, sign the aforementioned Berger from Borussia Dortmund. In the pre-internet era he was still something of a mystery but he very quickly became a Cop favourite. He made his debut off the bench at Leicester, scoring twice, both with that hammer of a left foot, to turn the game for the Reds. A week later, his first start, and he scored another brace at home to Chelsea as we smashed them 5-1. It seemed like we had a true superstar on our hands. ver that first season Berger found himself in and out of the side a little, battling with Stan Collymore for a starting position alongside Fowler and McManaman. The goals inevitably died up a little but he still made a major impact.
It was under Gerard Houllier that Berger shone brightest for Liverpool though. From the 98/99 season, through to early 2000/01 he was a first choice, scoring plenty of trademark screamers from outside of the box, the pick of which being the free kick at Old Trafford. Sadly he picked up a bad knee injury in the 4-3 defeat at Leeds and although he recovered his place for the treble winning run in, including that match winning assist for Owen in the FA Cup Final, he was never quite the same player, and eventually left us at the end of 2002/03. He played for Portsmouth and Aston Villa before ending his career at Sparta.
https://youtu.be/iU4Gk_romNE?si=f_xgV5PNTUofUMtYBerger wasn't the only Czech star though. In the summer of 1999, Houllier's rebuild saw him bring in Vladimir Smicer from Lens. A clever forward/attacking midfielder, Vladi at times found it difficult to make a sustained impact although had plenty of memorable cameos off the bench in his early seasons. It was his winning of the free kick that led to our golden goal winner in Dortmund. The following season he volleyed us to the top of the Premier League with a last minute winner against Chelsea. And obviously, who can forget his greatest and last appearance for us, coming off the bench in Istanbul to score the crucial second goal that really had Milan rocking, before scoring in the shootout, with his final kick for the club. Vladi was a Slavia man, starting and ending his career there.
https://youtu.be/261aPhdUebM?si=BI1AFJWZ5I7tKnnDI should mention Milan Baros at this point. Bt he was a Banik Ostrava man (the Ostravan Maradona!), and I'm running out of time.
THE GAMELet's be fair - there is a huge game coming on Sunday. While the Europa League remains a huge target, he only major trophy we haven't won under Jurgen, selection for this game will largely be dictated by who we want to start against City at the weekend. Minutes could be useful for some players on the fringes of returning to full fitness, but in reality it may be a game to start a few of the young lads who have served us so well this season, try and keep things tight and win the tie in the second leg. It feels a slight gamble, but everything is a balancing act at the moment.
Sparta drew 0-0 with big rivals Slavia at the weekend but they're having a great season domestically, winning 19 of their 23 games so far, losing only one.
PREDCTED LINE UPKelleher
Bradley Gomez. Quansah Tsimikas
McConnell
Eliott Clark
Gakpo. Danns. Koumas
I don't have much faith in that being the starting line up actually - feel like we may start one or two more senior players and manage minutes as best we can. It's a tricky one to balance.
Prediction: 1-1
