Sparta Prague vs Shamrock Rovers

Everything looks set for Sparta Prague’s success in their Champions League qualifying tie against Shamrock Rovers ahead of the return leg at the epet ARENA.

Sparta Prague netted on either side of halftime to grab a comfortable 2-0 first-leg win in the Republic of Ireland and set one foot in the next qualifying round. It’s been a dream start to the 2024/25 campaign for Lars Friis’ side as they’ve won both opening league matches by a combined score of 6-2, with five of their six goals across those victories coming beyond halftime. Virtually unplayable at the epet ARENA, the Czech Republic champions haven’t lost a competitive home match since Liverpool triumphed here 5-1 in March (W4, D3 since). However, it’s worth noting that they failed to keep a clean sheet in six of those seven unbeaten games, suggesting Friis’ frontline will likely have to be at their best to contain the damage.

On the other hand, Shamrock’s chances of reaching the third qualifying round are nearly dead in the water. The visitors must pull off an epic comeback to turn this tie on its head, but after losing back-to-back outings ‘to nil,’ they seem incapable of upsetting the apple cart in Prague. Playing on the road doesn’t bode well either, with Stephen Bradley’s side losing three of their last four competitive matches on hostile turf (D1), alarmingly failing to get on the scoresheet three times in a row ahead of this trip. Their miserable run seems destined to continue this week, considering they’ve lost all five previous encounters against Czech opponents via an aggregate score of 12-1.