Sparta PrahaGround: Generali Arena (Stadion Letná) Visits: 1 Date: 5th August 2018 Match: Sparta Praha - Slovácko 1-0 (Czech Liga) Attendance: 9 034 I woke up in Prague on Sunday morning and with a 6pm kick-off time between Sparta Praha and Slovácko I had a day without stress ahead of me. After a long breakfast I went to the National museum where I stayed for an hour. I then went by metro to the old town. I crossed the river and visited the Franz Kafka museum. In the warm conditions I decided to stay in the old town and have lunch at a nice restaurant. Prague is a nice city to visit but there are indeed a lot of tourists. The astronomical clock is being renovated at the moment but in 2014, during my previous visit to Prague, it was working to at least I have seen it once in my life. My hotel room offered air condition and once back from my sightseeing tour it was nice to relax in the room. From my hotel, opposite the main railway station, it was quite easy to reach Generali Arena, the home of Sparta Praha. 350 metres to walk and then a tram directly to the ground. I was outside the ground 16.30 but already plenty of fans had gathered there. Generali Arena, still commonly known as Stadion Letná, has a capacity of around 20 000. The ground was first opened in 1917 but has of course been renovated several times since then. Sparta Praha v Slovácko was a game in round 3 of the Czech Liga. Sparta has started the league with two wins but their ultras are not happy at the moment. On Thursday Sparta were knocked out of the Europa League by Spartak Subotica and as the game started a protest banner was unfolded (see picture below). After the protest around 20 pyros were lit and the ultras started to sing. The first half was dominated by the home team and at half-time it was deservedly 1-0 to Sparta. My seat was directly in the sun but during the second half it was actually quite pleasant, cooler temperatures and a bit of wind made sure of that. The second half was not as entertaining as the first though. Slovácko appealed for a penalty and after a while the referee ran towards one of the end stands. I had no idea what was going on but the referee was apparently looking at a monitor but the decision was the same as before, no penalty. 9 034 was the attendance at Generali Arena today and with the exception of 20 or so away fans they could return home reasonably pleased. I was back at my hotel around 20.15. had something to eat, watched some TV before falling asleep. Tomorrow my tour continues with a train journey to Dresden for Dynamo Dresden v Duisburg in 2. Bundesliga. Karlovy Most with the castle in the background Karlovy Most Karlovy Most Rear of the South Stand Graffiti - Ultras Sparta Graffiti Graffiti Rear of the East Stand South Stand West Stand West Stand North Stand Flags Scarves are out Kick-off South Stand Protest banner Pyro View of play West Stand View of play Slovácko fans North Stand Half-time Pano Pano |