FORTUNA:LIGA – preview of the 30th round: The last day of the regular season

Traditionally, the last round of the regular season of the Fortuna League is reserved for matches between teams that started the league season together. Thus, Slovan Liberec will present itself at the Municipal Stadium in Vítkovice, which can secure promotion to the group for the title.

A lot has happened in both clubs since the start of the summer season. Although Pavel Hapal is still operating on the home team’s bench and Luboš Kozel continues to lead the visitors, the ownership structure of Slovan has changed in recent weeks, whose ambitions should aim higher again after years in the middle of the table.

Let’s start with Baník, who in an embarrassing season full of ups and downs worked their way up to 4th place in the league table. In the camp of his fans, however, there is a mixture of displeasure and embarrassment. In a balanced league season, they have already lost eleven times, and in fourth place they look more like a one-eyed blind man. Nevertheless, he has a good starting position in the group for the title, and success against Liberec would be an important step towards progressing to the coveted European Cups.

Baník has been waiting for that for 14 long years. However, it often seems as if he doesn’t really want to go into international waters. It is now not possible to talk about the ambitions of the club, fans and management, but rather about the game being played. On the pitch, the Ostrava club looks like Jekyll and Hyde. Two rounds ago, in the home derby with Karvina, he only drew 2-2 after a soulless performance, alternating dominant moments with complete failures. Hapal’s team confirmed this game imbalance last week at Letná, where they took away an honorable loss 3:4 at first glance, but if it weren’t for the failures of the often erring defense, the result could have been a point.

Nevertheless, it can be argued that they would like to exchange season results in Liberec and Ostrava. Although the team from the north of Bohemia was more successful in the match in the 1st round, its imbalance is even more noticeable than that of Baník. During the entire season, he did not have a streak longer than two consecutive winning games, his entire year is permeated by unexpected and unnecessary losses.

The clearest evidence is the last two rounds. After an unexpected win in Pilsen and a demolition of Slovácko at home, Liberec lost at České Budějovice with a goal in regulation time, in which they equalized three minutes earlier. Last week, he did not take advantage of the home environment and drew 0:0 with Hradec Králové in a match that was hardly attractive to the spectators.

The guests can count on Kok and Mikula, with whom the club has newly extended their contract, until the last round of the regular season. On the other hand, coach Luboš Kozel, who received a fourth yellow card in the last round, which means disciplinary action, will be out of the bench. He is not the only sinner of the Slav. In the last round, goalkeeper Bačkovský also saw the fourth yellow card, and Pourzitidis even received the eighth yellow card, who will therefore also rest. The absence of Liberec is completed by injuries to Frýdek, Penner and Plechatý.

Home Miner does not have to deal with so many absences. Pavel Hapal does not have a band-aid, but he cannot count on the disciplinary-punished fullback Ndef. Takács is out for a long time, so the Ostrava fans will be mainly worried about goalkeeper No. 1 Letáček, who missed the last match against Sparta due to health problems.

Baník Ostrava – probable line-up:
Letáček – Pojezný, Frydrych, Lischka – Rusnák, Boula, Rigo, Kpozo – Ewerton – Klíma, Tanko

Slovan Liberec – probable line-up:
Vliegen – Mikula, Prebsl, Chaluš – Ghali, Doumbia, Žambůrek, Preisler – Višinský, Kulenović, Tupta

Tipsport odds: 1.71 – 4.11 – 4.68

EuroFotbal.cz tip: 1