An exciting attacking Slavia Praha side blew away the Czechia league in record-breaking in Trebor Mahtal’s first season at the club. The challenge now was for the Zambian manager to keep hold of his young stars and have a go at the Champions League.
Mahtal sold more players he didn’t like in the summer, boosting his transfer budget to more than £50m. And he invested that in more potential superstars, bringing in a potential Lionel Messi newgen in Federico Sánchez for £8.5m from Racing Club, holding midfielder Fernando Teixeira for another new national record £20m from Sporting and full back Catalin Takacs for £2.5m from Voluntari.
The only slight issue Mahtal had was too many non-EU players, given Czech sides are only allowed to name five in their starting 11. However, only four make the first 11 as he stuck with the 4-2-3-1 approach, but with the right winger changing to an inside forward to accommodate Sánchez.
Czech Title Defence
Slavia were 8/11 favourites to defend their title ahead of Sparta Praha and Baník Ostrava (4/1 and 10/1). They again began the season away to Viktoria Plzen and Sánchez teed up fellow debutant Teixeira to earn an edgy 1-0 win. But Sánchez really delivered on his home debut, scoring a brilliant hat trick in a 3-2 win over Slovan Liberec, who somehow scored twice from three shots on target. And the Argentinian won player and goal of the month in his first month in Czechia.
Winger Leonardo Augusto returned from the Olympics to bag a brace in a 3-1 win over Sigma Olomouc but a 31-game unbeaten streak ended as a rotated side lost 1-0 at Slovacko. But they really hit top gear as Sánchez bagged another hat trick of identical goals cutting in from the right and curling into the far corner in a 6-1 thumping of rivals Sparta, who went down to 10 for a shocking challenge on 18 minutes.
They kicked on from there led by the wonderful Sánchez, including a brace and assisting Teixeira and striker William Tshibuabua in a 4-0 win at Slovan Liberec. In fact, in his opening 19 league games, Sánchez scored 15 with 8 assists and a 7.93 average rating, taking his new side 9 points clear heading into a winter break.
Surprise Champions League Performances
Slaia entered the CL at the playoff phase against Mahtal’s former club Dynamo Kyiv. Tshibuabua scored a late goal to nick a 2-1 home win then both goals in Ukraine in Mahtal’s 1,300th match in management. They got a much tougher set of fixtures that made Mahtal wish they’d dropped into the Europa League.
But they got a great start as Sánchez and Augusto earned a 2-1 victory at Benfica before winger Pascal Elvedahl’s 80th-minute winner edged a 4-3 thriller at home to Monaco. Another former Mahtal club was up next as Slavia travelled to Panathinaikos and earned a solid 0-0. But now the going got really tough at home to Man City. But they twice led through a wonderful backheel assist by Sánchez for midfielder Almir Dedic and great play by Sprajcer allowing Tshibuabua to tap in. But City twice equalised to nick a draw.
They kept performing to a high standard as Sánchez’s goal and assists for Dedic and Tshibuabua inspired a 3-0 win over Rennes before Spracjer scored twice in a 4-1 victory at Maccabi Haifa. And after six games, Slavia found themselves top of the CL league phase as the only unbeaten team! However, they had two tricky games in the new year, starting with midfielder Zura Talakhadze’s early goal earning a 1-1 at home to Barcelona. But a 4-2 defeat at Man UFC saw Slavia painfully slip to 9th on goal difference.
The playoff round paired Slavia with Fiorentina, which they completely dominated with 4-0 win in Italy before Tshibuabua scored twice in another 4-0 win back at Eden Arena. But their run was probably done there as they got Real Madrid in the last 16. However, despite going behind to a clearly offside opener, they fought back superbly to win the home leg 2-1 with Augusto creating goals for Talakhdze and Sánchez. And a heroic defensive effort in Spain saw them cling on to a 0-0 with Petr Matousek making seven saves in a man-of-the-match performance.
That surprise success took Slavia into a quarter final, Mahtal’s first since his time at Panathinaikos in 2028, against Man UFC. They started well with Augusto and a solid defensive display earning a 1-1 at Old Trafford. Back at Eden Arena, a dire first half saw neither side have a shot on target, but Slavia responded to Mahtal’s strong half time words as Takacs slid Tshibuabua in for the opener after an hour. Both sides were awful but Man UFC equalised by countering from a Slavia corner to take a game that neither team deserved to win into extra time. UFC took advantage with two goals in the second half and Mahtal was fuming with his attacking players failing to show up against a team that was very beatable.
Czechia Domination
The usual derisory bids arrived in January, but Mahtal had no desire to sell any of his players for any money. However, they lost Sprajcer to PSG for the £22m release fee his agent locked into his contract and replaced him with a far worse option in David Tavares Fernandes for £2.6m from Slavia Sofia, who’ll compete with homegrown teenager George Reid.
Mahtal wasn’t convinced by Fernandes, especially considering how good Sprajcer was, but the Portuguese began to prove him wrong by scoring 12 minutes into his debut in a 3-0 win over Slovacko and again in a 4-1 win at Brno. And his new side marched on relentlessly, despite Mahtal rotating the side to manage their European involvement, including homegrown winger Oldrich Holub scoring in a 2-0 win at Karviná. And they went on to secure the title defence with four games remaining with a 4-0 win at home to Bohemians.
Slavia finished one point worse off than last season on 95, after 31 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats, scoring a new record 99 and conceding just 22. Sánchez was the star of the league with 21 goals, 14 assists and a 7.78 average but Tshibuabua was the top scorer with 24 goals. While Fernandes also impressed with 9 goals, 5 assists and a 7.50 average rating, which actually outperformed Sprajer by 0.03.
Celebrating More Czech Success
Mahtal had successfully made Slavia the dominant side in Czechia, racing to a second successive title by a country mile. Tshibuabua led the way with an impressive 37 goals in 48 games. But Sánchez was undoubtedly the star man, bagging 28 goals and 23 assists in his first season in Czechia. Also impressive were Augusto with 11 goals and 16 assists, Fernandes with 10 goals and 5 assists in 21 games, Talakhadze with 10 goals and 14 assists and Teixeira with 10 assists from holding midfield.
Despite loving his time in Praha, Mahtal was very much aware that he’d taken the club as far as he could. They were utterly dominant domestically, they were never realistically going to compete with Europe’s elite, and Mahtal really despised the elitist Champions League. So, with somewhat of a heavy heart at the realisation that his Slavia side was about to get absolutely decimated, he decided to resign. Mahtal departs Slavia with an incredible 74% win ratio, playing 110 games and winning 82, drawing 16 and losing 12, in which his sides scored 280 and conceded 98.
Where would Mahtal end up on the 16th leg of his EuroTrip adventure? Join us on Friday to find out!
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