Trebor Mahtal was building a superb young team at Baník Ostrava, dominating Czechia and coming so close to Europa League glory in 2064. But the 80-year-old Zambian manager was intent on testing his team’s abilities against Europe’s finest.
To achieve that, they needed to try and hold onto their best players, which proved challenging given some of the biggest clubs in the world were chasing them. They just about held onto midfielder Claudio Ríos after protesting the chairman’s decision to accept a £35m bid from Dortmund and saw off pathetic bids for star man Hendrikus Van der Heyden from Dortmund, Porto and PSG. However, Mahtal sold 11 backup players for £11m, including striker Jan Rosenberger, who struggled a little last season and needed regular football, to Molde for £5m.
Baník had 15 players of 4.5-star potential or more in a squad that he believed pushed his strong Djurgardens and Slavia Praha sides close. But he did add defensive support in wonderkid Mykola Zozulia for £11m from rivals Sparta Praha and Ionut Rasu for £3.5m from FC Rapid. Mahtal also promoted exciting 16-year-old midfielder Premysl Polásek and rapid striker Pavel Adamec.
Mahtal stuck with the 4-2-4 that worked very nicely last season. Ondrej Hruska and Trond Amundsen have firmly established themselves as the starting wingers and Aruna Oussou is pushing Jake LaRoche for the support role to star man Van der Heyden.
Beginning Another Title Defence
Baník were finally made 4/7 favourites to defend their title ahead of Praha rivals Slavia and Sparta (7/2 and 10/1). They began the new season with five players at the Olympics and Oussou injured, but had enough to win 3-0 at Plzen with goals by Van der Heyden, midfielder Johnny Bedini and Amundsen and two Hruska assists and then thrash Chrudim 6-0 led by Amundsen and Van der Heyden braces with Zozuliua getting two assists on debut. Both Hruska and Ríos also got injured before game three, for which Mahtal only had three substitutes, but they still cruised to a 3-0 win at Brno through Zozulia’s first goal, Van der Heyden and now fully natural libero John Jaime Barbat.
They conceded for the first time at home to Kromeriz but won 4-1 with Zozulia continuing his superb start by scoring again and won 4-1 again at Slovan Liberec led by Amundsen’s hat trick. And the scarily strong start continued, including Van der Heyden bagging hat tricks as they smashed Slovacko 6-0 and Varnsdorf 5-0.
Excelling In The Champions League
Baník went straight into the Champions League playoff round, which suggested they’d improved Czechia’s coefficient. Hruska, Van der Heyden and Amundsen earned a 3-1 home win over Basel before Bedini earned a 1-1 away to send Baník into the league phase.
That began with a tricky game at Dortmund but Van der Heyden showed why the Germans were chasing him as he scored both in a 2-1 victory. Hruska’s first-half 20-yard screamer was enough for a 1-1 with RB Leipzig in a game they really should have won before a 3-2 victory at home to Osijek thanks to midfielder Emanuel Bäckström’s late winner. The biggest test of their credentials yet came at home to Napoli and they started well and took advantage as Van der Heyden flicked a low cross into the top corner from a narrow angle. Napoli offered very little and Baník secured the result as substitutes Bedini and Hruska combined for a great goal in injury time.
A rotated side nicked a 1-0 at Hajduk before a superb 3-1 win at Feyenoord with goals by Amundsen, right back Martin Hrdy and Van der Heyden. And that took Baník top of the league phase after six games! They secured qualification by nicking a 2-1 win over Milan through late Hruska and Bäckström strikes and finished with a 1-1 at Atlético to come 2nd behind Real Madrid as the only undefeated club.
Baník got a tough last 16 draw against 2059 winners Atlético. But they dominated the game in Spain and scored two early goals through LaRoche and Hruska, before conceding late on as Atlético grew into it. They started well at home as a move that started with a goal kick ended with Oussou sending Van der Heyden in to calmly finish. Atlético undeservedly equalised thanks to Kylian Herault’s awful goalkeeping and Mahtal laid into his team, who responded with Bäckström’s superb 25-yard drive. Baník dominated but allowed Atlético in by gifting them a backpass then an injury-time equaliser from a corner. But the right result followed in extra time as Van der Heyden converted Oussou’s low cross.
Arguably the best quarter final draw tied Baník with Napoli. The first leg was away again and Baník earned a 2-2 thanks to Bäckström’s brace matching up two goals by Mahtal’s former Kobenhavn and now superstar midfielder Julius Buysse. They lost both centre backs to suspension for the second leg but started well as Oussou converted after Van der Heyden’s effort hit the post. However, they went and conceded to Napoli’s first two attacks. But they stepped it up a notch at home as Van der Heyden hit a superb 36-minute hat trick to inspire a 4-0 victory.
That took Baník into the semis against AC Milan, who thrashed Newcastle 7-1 to overcome a 4-1 first leg defeat. This time the home leg was first and they started well, hitting the bar and forcing a good save in the same attack as Amundsen scored a low 20-yarder. They conceded immediately after half time only for Amundsen to go down the other end and double his tally. As seemingly always, Baník dominated their opponents, but Herault leaked three goals from five shots on target. However, Amundsen created a goal for Oussou then Barbat nicked a 4-3 win from a corner in injury time.
Milan obviously scored their first shot in the second leg and that’s how it stayed to force extra time. The hosts scored three minutes into the extra period but homegrown winger Tomás Gross immediately got Baník level. And it looked destined for penalties until Gross passed to his fellow substitute Bedini to fire home from the corner of the box – sending 1,399 travelling fans into pandemonium. Because a 6-5 aggregate victory sent Baník Ostrava into the Champions League Final!
Chasing 3 Successive Czech Titles
The transfer rumours resumed in January, and teams across Europe and Saudi made frankly insulting bids for half the Baník squad. But when Inter offered £59m rising to £100m for Van der Heyden, who he’d promised to sell for £31.5m, Mahtal probably had to take it. However, he took a selfish turn and cancelled the deal just to hold onto the star man until the end of the season. Meanwhile, Oussou had surged in quality, joining Van der Heyden, Ríos and Barbat in being considered “world class,” which Mahtal felt now made this the best squad he’d ever worked with.
Despite only dropping points twice all season, Baník began 2065 with just a 3-point advantage over Sparta. But they doubled that lead as Van der Heyden’s towering header nicked a 1-0 win at Sparta. Mahtal’s attention was largely focused on Europe, but they maintained that form with largely rotated sides but still only had a 4-point lead over Sparta going into the Championship Group. That lead was reduced to just 1 point as a rotated team lost 2-0 at home to Sparta but restored as Baník thrashed Zizkov while Sparta lost 2-1 at home to Slavia. And they wrapped up a third successive title with Van der Heyden and Barbat’s first-half goals earning a 2-1 win at Brno.
Baník went on to win the title by 7 points after a new league record 95 points and 31 wins with 2 defeats and 2 draws. They also broke their own record with a mammoth 112 goals and conceded just 26. Van der Heyden was the top scorer with 23 in 30 but Amundsen was the star player with a 7.97 average rating from 24 games and 8 MOTM awards, and Herault kept a league-high 15 clean sheets.
Maiden Champions League Final
A superb run took Baník into their maiden Champions League Final and gave Mahtal a chance to win his second after Kobenhavn’s success in 2052. They faced off against 8-time winners Manchester City, a club Mahtal considered to be everything that’s wrong with the major European leagues, at Puskás Aréna in Budapest. Mahtal’s only injury concern was Bedini recovering from a slight knock, so he lined up:
Herault; Ribeiro, Hradisky, Barbat, ZZozulia; Rios, Bäckström; Amundsen, Hruska; Oussou, Van der Heyden
Subs: LaRoche, Holmkvist, Rusu, Bedini, Gross, Music, Novtony, Svoboda, Polasek, Spole, Muller, Hrdy
The Final began quietly with City just about edging the chances. Oussou ambitiously chipped just over from 25 yards and Amundsen had a huge chance well saved just before half time. Mahtal tried to fire the boys up and thought it had worked as Oussou converted from a narrow angle, but saw it ruled just offside by VAR. Baník were the only team pushing for a goal and nearly got it as Hruska’s overhead kick was pushed wide on 76 minutes. But their pressure eventually told as Amundsen, who Mahtal was about to take off, got in down the right and crossed for Van der Heyden to tap in from six yards. City continued to offer nothing, not even having a shot in the second half and not getting a single shot on target. And Baník cruised to a 1-0 win.
Baník Ostrava became the first Czechia side to win the Champions League!
Van der Heyden won the Champions League Golden Boot and Player and Young Player of the Season with 13 goals and a 7.64 average rating in 17 games. And he was named in the Dream Team alongside centre back Tomás Hradisky and Bäckström.
Reflecting On Baník’s Seismic Rise
Mahtal knew this Baník side had talent and they could compete with Europe’s best but to go and dominate the Champions League without losing a game all season in the competition was pretty unthinkable. However, he very much had the best squad he’d ever worked with, including four world class players, four wonderkids and a host of players set to become world-leading.
The obvious headlines go to Van der Heyden, who scored 37 goals with 9 assists in 47 games and Mahtal was very much glad he kept. But their best player was Amundsen, who got an impressive 21 goals and 15 assists with a 7.71 average rating in 38 games. Puhing them close were Oussou (17 goals and 11 assists), LaRoche (13 goals and 7 assists), Bedini (12 goals and 6 assists), Hruska (11 goals and 12 assists), Bäckström (9 goals and 12 assists) and Barbat (8 goals and 8 assists). Baník’s youngsters also gained recognition as Van der Heyden won U21 Footballer of the Year in October and Amundsen won European Golden Boy two months later.
And with the talent available to Mahtal, it seems appropriate to have a look at just how good some of these players have become in the gallery below:
Now 81 years old, Mahtal believed he had achieved everything he could at Baník and, realistically, in club football. He really didn’t fancy the absolute carnage that would accompany clubs circling his best players like vultures, so decided to stand down at the end of his contract in the summer of 2065. However, while Mahtal felt he was done domestically, he was open to the idea of international management if such a possibility arose.
Mahtal departs Baník after 1072 days in which he led them into 173 matches, winning 132, drawing 20 and losing 21. His sides scored an incredible 450 goals, conceded 171 and he had a 76% win ratio en route to winning three league titles, a Czech FA Cup and, this still sounds ridiculous to say, the Champions League. He also leaves with them a massive £86m in the bank.
So would Mahtal go on to international management? Or would he be tempted back into the lure of domestic football? Join us tomorrow to find out!
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