Celje (from our newsletter) – The owner of Baník Václav Brabec from the grandstand watched carefully the last training of his team before the match in Slovenia. The sun was slowly setting, a good atmosphere on the pitch. “Dynamics. Control,” for example, instructions for Ostrava players flew. There was also laughter, poking, sometimes a sharp word.
Baník is well tuned before the key battle. “Everyone knows what to play. In a way, we can enroll in the history of Baník Ostrava,” said coach Pavel Hapal. “But I like challenges, I’m an ambitious person,” he added.
The Czech team did everything possible to prepare the best. To avoid constantly traveling, he postponed the previous preliminary round in Vienna Sunday league match in Pardubice. Less than two days off, after several English weeks with two matches, mainly to clean the head. “It was especially appreciated by the wife. We could go somewhere. For everyone, it is nice to relax, not to be on the team all the time and not to solve what was happening. But we had to run something,” said Boula.
Even Hapal, who hopes to complete the cadre in addition to the preparation, was able to turn off for a while. “I was at home and mowed the garden. I like it, one comes to other thoughts. So I relaxed with a mower in my hand,” smiled the Ostrava coach.
In his way to the main phase of the conference league stands against his group of NK Celje. At first glance, it may not be a scary opponent, but last season he reached the quarterfinals of this competition, where he fell out with Fiorentina. In the last round, he destroyed Lugano 5: 0 in the first match and at home, despite the unmanageable conclusion and defeat 2: 4, he advanced completely. He did not lose a point in five matches in the Slovenian league.
“It is a great team, although it may not sound so much in our country. But they have gone far away in the spring. They have great individual quality, they are well and technically. It will be a tough opponent.
A large flock of Baník fans will go to Celje, and about twelve hundred of them are to arrive. “They are amazing. It was great on Austria and I believe that if we had more capacity there, they would have arrived even more. I believe they will create a great atmosphere again. Thank you very much and we appreciate their support,” Hapal said.
