Terrifying collision of the Croat against the post, fear for the Greek’s eye. Liberec was worried about foreigners

“He is conscious, his ribs, ear, and head have been hit,” revealed visiting coach Luboš Kozel. “The doctor told me he didn’t remember for a while. When we arrive in Liberec, the CT scan will show more.”

Slovan was chasing an equalizer at Stínadly, and the Balkan attacker chased the ball at the far post, where he was served by substitute Denis Višinský. The balloon missed, the stick didn’t. He couldn’t avoid it anymore. They treated him for several minutes. He already had his head up on the stretcher, holding an ice pack on it. And he signaled to fans with a hand and a raised thumb that he was out of danger. He got a round of applause.

“I hope that Kulenovič will be fine,” Teplice coach Zdenko Frťala said on his own at the press conference. He too had his throat tightened when he saw the carom of a native of Toronto, Canada: “It was terribly dangerous. I trust that there will be no consequences and that he will be ready as soon as possible.”

Liberec defender Matěj Chaluš claimed about the Croat’s innocent bump into the post: “It made me think, maybe he will be ready for the next match and use this as motivation to score a goal or more goals.” But I saw it from afar. On the contrary, I had Marios Pourzitidis a short distance from me and that made me more nervous. I was afraid the problem would be more serious.’

Chaluš was alluding to the incident from the 25th minute, when the Greek full-back fell to the ground off the ball in the center circle along with the home team’s Abdallah Gning. The Senegalese received a yellow card for a foul. Few people saw the fight, the cameras caught only its conclusion. And thus Ging’s wrestling grip, with which he knocked the opponent to the ground.

“The whole match was tough. No one saw this clash, the balloon was gone. What’s even sadder is that when the ball is out, how he can almost lose an eye. Somehow they fell together, I don’t know what happened. If you look at Mario’s face, it doesn’t look like he’s playing a football match,” Chaluš didn’t understand. “But that’s football, it shows how tough an opponent Teplice are and how much they fight.”

Teplice coach Frťala is said to have noticed how Gning and Pourzitidis were holding each other. Then he focused on the event of his glassmakers. “The fourth referee said that in the beginning there was a foul from the visiting player, then Abu was more aggressive in the fight. “I don’t know if there was a blow, intended or not,” he shrugged.

The home team won the opening match of the semi-final group for Europe 2:0, and it is not certain whether Liberec will be able to use both players in the rematch. “Mario doesn’t exactly have a pretty face, luckily it doesn’t look like it’s going to be too bad for either of them. We’ll see. If Luky shouldn’t play, it would be a weakness for us,” emphasized Kozel. The second match will be played in Liberec on Sunday, May 12.