Plzeň Crushed 0-3 by Union Saint-Gilloise in Europa League

Footballers of the... well, not Prague's but Plzeň's Viktoria suffered a painful home defeat in their opening match of the Europa League's main phase. At the Štruncovy sady stadium, the team fell 0-3 to Belgium's Union Saint-Gilloise, the reigning Belgian Cup holders and league runners-up, extending their prolonged crisis.

The visitors were already 2-0 up by half-time thanks to goals from Relebohile Mofokeng and Mateo Bijondič. In the second half, Czech defender Ondřej Kryčfalusi, now playing for the Belgian club, also got on the scoresheet — ironically netting his first goal against his own countrymen since his summer move from Baník Ostrava.

Crisis continues under new coach

Plzeň have won just one of their last five matches across all competitions, and results have failed to improve even under new coach Radoslav Kováč, who replaced the sacked Martin Hyský at the end of August. Early in his tenure, the new boss led the team to a 5-1 extra-time win over Crvena zvezda in the second leg of the fourth qualifying round, but has picked up only one win since.

Viktoria, the only side to go through last season's entire Europa League group stage unbeaten, suffered their heaviest home defeat in European competition since autumn 2018, when they lost 0-5 to Real Madrid in the Champions League.

How the match unfolded

Kováč made six changes to the starting line-up compared to Sunday's 2-3 league defeat to Olomouc. Regular starters Červ, Dweh and Doski began on the bench, while Pirgič and defender Spáčil, back after injury and a three-match absence, were given a chance.

The first half went badly for the hosts, with Union fully in control of the game. Viktoria goalkeeper Vigele made three crucial saves in the opening fifteen minutes. On 17 minutes, though, the visitors broke through — defender Silla played a long ball forward, and the pacy Mofokeng outran Spáčil and Vávra before coolly converting a one-on-one chance.

Plzeň produced their first real response only in the 25th minute, but Adu's shot went wide. On 36 minutes, Vigele again bailed out his side, palming away Zeneli's close-range effort. Just before the break, however, the hosts conceded a second — after another poorly handled counterattack, Patris set up Bijondič, who doubled his tally with a precise finish into the far corner. In stoppage time, Vigele denied Havenaar to keep the score at 2-0.

Third goal and aftermath

Coach Kováč replaced the error-prone Spáčil and Višinský with Dweh and Laval. Plzeň improved slightly, but their laboured build-up rarely troubled the opposition goal. In the 59th minute, the Belgian league leaders scored their third: from a Zeneli corner, Kryčfalusi rose unmarked at the far post, seemingly surprised by his own freedom as he headed home.

Viktoria struggled through the rest of the match without managing to get on the scoresheet. The team could hardly have picked a worse moment ahead of Sunday's crucial league clash at Slavia's stadium. For Union Saint-Gilloise, this was their second meeting with a Czech club — the last time, the Belgians were eliminated from Champions League qualifying by Slavia on aggregate.

For the third year running, the European competitions' main phase is being played under the single-table format: all 36 participants play each other, with the top 24 advancing to the play-offs, eight of them going straight into the round of 16. Each team plays eight matches. Plzeň's next fixture is an away trip to Ferencváros in Budapest on 15 October.

Source: seznamzpravy.cz