FC Viktoria Plzeň lost 1:2 to Lazio in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final. The victory was decided by the opponent in the very end. Rafiu Durosinmi scored Plzeň´s only goal.

Another European evening awaited Doosan Arena, this time in the Europa League semi-final against Italian side S.S. Lazio. For the opening ten minutes, both teams were rather getting to know each other, with the game taking place mainly in the middle of the pitch. In the 11th minute, Pavel Šulc got to the ball after Lukáš Kalvach´s centre and sent it uncompromisingly behind the goalkeeper. However, the joy of the whole Doosan Arena was interrupted by VAR, which disallowed the goal due to offside.

Five minutes later, the visitors took the lead after a corner kick. Romagnoli was left alone at the back post and directed the ball precisely into the opposite corner of goalkeeper Martin Jedlicka´s goal. However, the Victorians did not give up and started to put pressure on their opponents. Lazio, on the other hand, relied on quick counter-attacks. In the 24th minute, Rafiu Durosinmi intercepted a bad cross from the goalkeeper. He didn´t wait for anything and immediately fired a shot, but his attempt was deflected out of the net. By the end of the first half, neither team had any more chances, and the players went into the booths with the score 0:1 in favour of the visitors.

At the start of the second half, the home fans finally got their chance. Rafiu Durosinmi brought them joy when he headed the ball to the front post after a centre from a standard situation. The Victorians didn´t let up and continued to pressure their opponents, especially down the right side of the pitch. Amar Memić and Pavel Šulc caused the biggest problems for Lazio´s defence, as their cooperation created several dangerous actions.

In the 76th minute, the visiting Nicolo Rovella hit Pavel Šulc in the face and the main referee showed him a red card for this tackle. Four minutes later, coach Miroslav Koubek made his first substitution, replacing Lukáš Červ with Jiří Maxim Panoš. Jan Kopic and Prince Adu also took the field, replacing Amar Memic and Raffi Durosinmi.

At the very end, the visitors saw another red card, this time it was received by Samuel Gigot. Viktoria, despite all the pressure, couldn´t even get on the power play. Lazio, on the other hand, scored their second goal in stoppage time. Gustav Isaksen scored from outside the box to secure the victory. Viktoria thus lost 1:2 to Lazio in the first leg of the semi-final.