Controversial Penalty in Slavia Clash: Zbrojovka Coach Accuses Referee of Bias

In a Czech First League match between Prague's Slavia and Brno's Zbrojovka, referee Beneš awarded a contentious penalty after home striker Tomáš Chorý went down under challenge from visiting captain Jakub Klíma. The official ruled it as holding against the Slavia forward and pointed to the spot, booking Klíma in the process, while Zbrojovka's players protested furiously.

Chorý calmly converted the penalty to open the scoring, and Slavia went on to demolish their opponents in the second half, adding three more goals for a 4:0 win in a clash between the top two sides in the standings.

Visiting Coach Fumes Over Referee's Call

Zbrojovka boss Martin Svědík could barely contain his frustration in a post-match television interview. "There was no penalty — the referee simply invented it. It affected the outcome of the game, and I'm not disputing that we then conceded four goals and the scoreline looks clear-cut. But if penalties like that get awarded, it's a proper demolition job," he said.

According to the coach, such decisions are made selectively. "This only happens at certain stadiums, with certain teams. It shouldn't be this way, because when you travel as the visiting side, everything you prepared for suddenly feels pointless." At the press conference, Svědík added that as a coach he felt powerless: "You prepare your team, and then you're down 0:1 because of an incident like that."

Chorý's Version of Events

Goalscorer Tomáš Chorý gave his own account of what happened: "Before that there were two corners where Klíma was clearly holding me, but nothing came of it. Then there were another two or three situations where I asked for a foul, but the referee didn't blow the whistle. After that I found myself in front of Klíma and felt him grab me with both hands — he almost had hold of me. I knew I was going down, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to stay on my feet."

Pundits Antonín Rosa and David Kalivoda, reviewing the incident on the Oneplay Sport studio show, disagreed on the finer details but acknowledged the moment was debatable. Rosa, a former defender, noted that Klíma made a mistake by pressing too tightly against his opponent, which caused Chorý to feel the pressure and go down — though the contact itself didn't look serious enough to justify falling. Still, he doesn't consider it a clear error warranting VAR intervention.

Kalivoda, a former Slavia player, stressed the importance of a consistent refereeing standard: players go down in such situations precisely because there's no clear line for when a foul is given and when it isn't.

Svědík: Refs Apply Different Standards

The Zbrojovka coach insisted that had a similar situation occurred at the other end of the pitch, no whistle would have blown. "I guarantee you, if it had happened at the other end, no penalty would have been given. There's no consistent standard," he said, adding that his team had played well overall, but that this episode had really got under his skin.

Rosa countered that this kind of thing happens all over the world with top clubs at big stadiums, where crowd pressure and a team's stature can influence referees' decisions.

Svědík also recalled that last season the refereeing committee used to publicly comment on controversial incidents, but has stopped doing so since the start of this season. "Sure, the old model was better, but for us coaches it makes no difference now — it won't change anything, and life goes on," he concluded.

Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz