The rematch of the Europa League round of 16 between Viktoria Plzeň and Sporting CP was kicked off at Štruncovy sady stadium on Thursday 15th March at 7 p.m. Their task was quite difficult because they had to delete Lisbon´s two-goals leading so Pavel Vrba changed the starting line-up with Jan Kovařík, Tomáš Hájek, Radim Řezník and Milan Havel and Marek Bakoš as a forward.

Plzeň started the match quite sharply! On 6 minutes Kopic and Kovařík played a corner and the latter centred the ball by his unusual right leg on Bakoš´s head. He immediately placed the ball behind the goal line so the home team was in lead 1-0! Ambitious Viktorians continued in their active game and today they were an equal opponent to the Portuguese club, at some moments they were even better. However, on 38 minutes Bas Dost passed the ball to Bryan Ruize who missed the gate from the penalty area. Martin Zeman tried his fortune on the other side but as well as Kovařík´s attempt it did not find any recipients. The half.time result was 1-0 for Viktoria.

The beginning of the 2nd half belonged to the visitors. The shot from the right side was rebounded off by the goalkeeper Aleš Hruška only to Bruno Fernandes. He was alone in front of the gate and hit an upright! Pavel Vrba´s team notched up a 100% chance. On 63 minutes Jan Kovařík crossed the ball to running Milan Havel. His shot flew a few centimetres above the crossbar. 1 minute later the Doosan Arena burst out of joy again. Havel cooperated with Bakoš and his attempt was stopped only by the goal net – 2-0 for Plzeň! The match would have been prolonged at this score, nevertheless, hyped up Viktorians were craving for another goal. On 68 minutes Kopic shot to Patrício´s arms only. The offensive phase of Viktoria was boosted by Michael Krmenčík coming on th pitch on 83 minutes who substituted the 2-goals scorer Marek Bakoš. At the end of the match Plzeň suffered such a blow that they did not even deserve. Radim Řezník had a contact with Bas Dost in the 18-yard box and the referee Stieler blew a penalty kick for Sporting. Luckily the goalkeeper Aleš Hruška rebounded Dost´s attempt out of the gate and Fernandes´ hit headed highly above the crossbar. The match was approaching to its extra time.

Aleš Hruška was the man of the match when on 98 minutes fantastically destoryed Ruiz´s header. 2 minutes later Pavel Vrba substituted Martin Zeman for Milan Petržela. In the 1st half of the additional time Plzeň were shocked because Battaglia headed the ball towards Hruška so he has no chance to save this and Sporting scored long-desired goal. At 2-1 score Viktoria had to score right two more goals. Unfortunately it did not happened during following 15 minutes although there were Kolář´s, Petržela´s and Hořava´s attempts.

Viktoria were edged out in the Europa League round of 16 after a breathtaking match against Sporting CP. They won the rematch 2-1 but in total of both matches (0-2 in Lisbon last week) it was not enough. Viktorians were awarded by a huge applause from their fans for today´s heroic performance.

FC Viktoria Plzeň - Sporting CP 2:1 (1:0) AET
R16, Thu 15th March 2018, 19:00, Doosan Arena
Goals: 6. Bakoš, 65. Bakoš – 105+2. Battaglia, YC: Řezník, Hájek, Petržela – Ruiz, Dost, Referees: Stieler – Pickel, Seidel (all Germany).
Crowd: 9370.
Plzeň: Hruška – Havel, Řezník (106. Hejda), Hájek, Kovařík – Hořava, Hrošovský – Kopic, Kolář, Zeman (100. Petržela) – Bakoš (C) (83. Krmenčík).
Sporting CP: Patrício (C) – Petrović (67. Piccini), Pinto, Mathieu, Coentrão – Battaglia, Fernandes – Martins, Ruiz (99. Ribeiro), Acuňa (76. Montero) – Dost.