Slavia forward Chory collapses on the pitch in dramatic finish to Prague derby, stretchered off

Stoppage time in the Prague derby between Slavia and Viktoria Žižkov at Eden Stadium produced an alarming scene: home forward Jan Chory suddenly collapsed on the turf with no apparent cause while the ball was out of play near the opposite stand.

The player clutched his head, and medics rushed onto the pitch immediately, applying ice to his neck. After several dozen seconds, Chory got up and appeared ready to walk to the touchline himself — but suddenly crumpled to the grass again. Additional medical staff sprinted onto the field, and the player, who had recently earned a call-up to the national team, was carried off on a stretcher.

After the final whistle, Chory was back on his feet and gave a television interview, admitting he himself didn't understand what had happened. "My head is still a bit dizzy, and I don't feel great. I don't know if I took a knock somewhere. But everything went dark, and I fell," the forward said.

A stretcher was needed for the opponent too

Chory wasn't the only player unable to finish the match. In the second half, Viktoria's forward Prince Adu was also stretchered off the pitch. Around the center of the field, he collided with Tomáš Vlček and fell; the exact cause remained unclear — Adu had taken a blow to the head from the ball, though whether this was the true cause of his subsequent condition was not specified.

"I don't have any information yet. I hope it's nothing serious, but I haven't spoken to the doctors," said Viktoria coach Radoslav Kováč after the match.

A milestone penalty and victory for Slavia

Despite the frightening episode, it was Chory who delivered Slavia's 2:1 win in this high-stakes match. The forward became the first player to convert 20 out of 20 penalty attempts, though the road to this milestone was far from smooth.

Goalkeeper Florian Wieger saved the first attempt, which struck the post, but the penalty was retaken due to an early encroachment into the box by Merhas Doski, who had rushed in before the ball was struck. On his second attempt, Chory made no mistake, scoring the winning goal for Slavia.

"After the first penalty, I thought the moment was gone. Then it was ordered to be retaken. The pressure was immense — I don't think I could have felt more of it. A lot has been piling up on me lately," admitted the scorer of the winning goal, adding that he never doubted he would step up again after the failed first attempt. "Who else, if not me? I was a hundred percent sure and believed in myself," concluded the player, who remains an absolutely reliable penalty taker in the Czech league.

Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz