Europa Cup: Austria Wien denied history as Sparta Praha reach semi-finals | OneFootball

Austria Wien narrowly missed out on an opportunity to make history as the first Austrian side to reach a women’s European semi-final on Wednesday.

Sparta Praha found two clinical goals in extra time to progress to the final four of the UEFA Women’s Europa Cup. The clash finished 3-1 to the Czech side on aggregate.

A crowd of 1,882 attended the match at the Franz-Horr Stadium in Vienna. The Prague side brought a healthy amount of away fans across the 2,500 kilometre journey.

SV Neulengbach were the last and only other time an Austrian women’s team reached a European quarter-final. The Lower-Austrian side eventually lost to Swedish outfit Tyresö FF in the 2013/14 UWCL season.

Starting XIs

Fußballklub Austria Wien

Pal; Schöffel, Weiss, Cordes, Schiechtl, Kirchberger, Triendl, Uka, Weilharter, Škorvánková, Wenninger (C)

Athletic Club Sparta Praha

Harantová; Bergford, Stárová, Pochmanová, Khyrová, Sonntagová, Hansen, Retkesová, Černá, Ospeck, Bartonová (C)

Sparta Praha with better chances in regular time

Austria Wien played out an almost timid showing during the first leg in Prague, which saw the match end goalless. However, their home showing in Vienna was a much more contested fixture. Praha applied plenty of pressure on Jasmin Pal, which the Innsbruck native was equal to for the majority of the game.

The tension in the stadium was tangible as the two sides showed their desperation to progress to the next round. Despite a strong display of defensive abilities from Wenninger and company in the Wien defence, the deadlock was broken in the 70th minute.

Czechia international Antione Stárová managed to latch her right foot onto a loose ball in the Wien area to fire past Pal and take the lead. The 27-year-old had been a thorn in Wien’s side for a significant portion of the match.

An instant reply from Austria Wien

With the tension finally broken by the Praha goal, the crowd and the players shuffled off the trepidation and pushed on. Wien were immediately at the throats of the away side. Pressure forced a corner for the home side, which was whipped in at pace from Modesta Uka.

The defence failed to clear the danger and as a result, it took just two minutes for the score to be levelled. Former VfL Wolfsburg player Lotta Cordes managed to tap a goal in past goalkeeper Harantová to make it 1-1.

It didn’t take much to see how much both sets of players wanted to progress. The fixture had been a very physical showing and both teams had picked up bookings from the Portuguese officials.

Praha use extra time to topple Austria Wien

The first 90 minutes came to a close with the sides locked in at 1-1. Two more halves of 15 were needed to separate the teams and Praha had the luck and the ability needed to finish off the game.

With the pressure firmly on Wien, the defence failed to deal with a corner from Czechia international Khýrová. USA national Hallie Bergford then headed the chance home to re-take the lead.

Praha then went from strength to strength as they pushed to finish the game off. It was Khýrová who dealt the final blow to beat Pal and secure her side’s place in the semi-final.

Stefan Kenesei admits Praha were the ‘better’ side

Austria Wien coach Stefan Kenesei took some time after the match to address the defeat.

“Today, they were just a touch better in set pieces and with their individual finishing. Nevertheless, we are proud that we didn’t lose in two 90-minute halves.”

Kenesei did make sure to acknowledge the achievements of the team’s European campaign: “We can be incredibly proud. We improved from game to game, our performances have steadily gotten better.”

What’s next in the Europa Cup?

Sparta Praha will now face Swedish side Hammarby in the semi-finals on the March 24th, and then again on April 1st. Eintracht Frankfurt will take on the other remaining Swedish side BK Häcken, with fixtures scheduled for March 25th and April 2nd.

Frankfurt are likely favourites for the competition as four-time UWCL winners. Sparta Praha are the first team from Czechia to reach a UEFA women’s club semi-final. They could be the first team from Czechia to appear in any major UEFA club final (including women’s, men’s, youth football or futsal).

Häcken and Hammarby are the fifth and sixth different Swedish clubs to reach a UEFA women’s club semi-final, overtaking the record held by France and Germany respectively.

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