Champions League Preview: Shamrock Rovers -v- Sparta Prague

Shamrock Rovers huddle ahead of their Champions League first qualifying round second leg against Vikingur in Tallaght in July 2024

Shamrock Rovers huddle ahead of their Champions League first qualifying round second leg against Vikingur in Tallaght in July 2024 Credit: Eddie Lennon (ETPhotos)

SHAMROCK ROVERS

Shamrock Rovers welcome Sparta Prague to Tallaght Stadium for the first leg of their Champions League second qualifying round tie on Tuesday (kick-off 8pm).

They travel to Prague next Tuesday for the second leg and a third qualifying round tie against either FCSB (formerly known as Steaua Bucharest) or Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv awaits should they progress.

“They’re a team that operates at a really high level and have done for a number of years,” manager Stephen Bradley said of Sparta Prague, speaking to the club’s website.

“You just have to look at the number of players they had at the recent European Championships, they are really high level opposition.

“They are probably up there with the best we have played in my time here so we know we are up against a top team with international players all around it. But our aim is to try and win the game and ultimately the tie, that’s why we’re here and where we want to be. We know what we’re up against it but that’s the aim.”

In team news – Jack Byrne is suspended for this fixture, Rory Gaffney, Aaron McEneff and Graham Burke are all injured, although Burke and Greene could feature in the second leg.

The club have sold over 9,000 tickets for tonight's game.

SPARTA PRAGUE

The Czech champions will be visiting Dublin on Tuesday and as expected Sparta are considered favorites for this tie.



In terms of their team – Sparta had several players playing at EURO 2024. Jan Kuchta and Martin Vitik both played for Czechia at the European Championship. Veljko Birmančević lined out for Serbia against England. He scored 16 goals from 30 games, picking up the player of the year award in the Czech First League. Midfielder Qazim Laçi played for Albania in the EUROS in the 2-2 draw against Croatia.

Sparta have made regular appearances in the Champions League group stages but in recent years it has been Europa League group stage football and more for them.

Last season they made it out of the group, beating Galatasaray 6-4 on aggregate in the play-off round before elimination in the last 16 of the Europa League at the hands of Liverpool.

They made the knockout stages of the same competition the previous year before being eliminated by Partizan Belgrade.

The season before that they didn’t get out of a group where they beat Celtic both home and away.

They have a 100% win record, having played their first league game only last Friday. They beat Pardubice 2-1 at home with goals from Matej Rynes and Nigerian striker Victor Olatunji.



They had their pre-season training camp in Germany, but ahead of the start of the season they sold their captain Ladislav Krejčí to Girona.

Referee: Joey Kooij (Netherlands)

MATCH STATS

While Shamrock Rovers are on a run of four league titles in a row, Sparta are currently back to back champions.

Sparta had four players playing at EURO 2024 this summer – Jan Kuchta, Martin Vitik, Veljko Birmančević and Qazim Laçi.

Rovers have played Czech teams twice before in European competition, Slovan Liberec in 2003 and Mlada Boleslav in 2017.

BETTING

Home 8/1; Draw 4/1; Sparta Prague 1/4.

PREDICTION

Shamrock Rovers 0 – 2 Sparta Prague

Shamrock Rovers

Injured: Rory Gaffney, Graham Burke, Aaron McEneff.

Doubtful: None.

Suspended: None.

Sparta Prague

Injured: N/A.

Doubtful: N/A.

Suspended: N/A.

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