Contrasting fortunes and no foreign silverware: Lowdown on Celtic's Europa League opponents Sparta Prague

Sparta Prague huddle prior to the UEFA Europa League Group H stage match with AC Milan (Photo by Emilio Andreoli/Getty Images)

Celtic face Sparta Prague at Parkhead on Thursday night in their third Europa League Group H fixture. The Hoops lost 3-1 at home to AC Milan in their section opener before a creditable 2-2 draw with Lille in France last week.

Here, the PA news agency looks at the Czech Republic outfit ahead of what will be a Euro double-header against the Scottish champions.

Europa League form

Sparta Prague are bottom of Group H with no points after two defeats.

Samuel Castillejo of AC Milan is challenged by Matej Hanousek and David Lischka of Sparta Praha. (Photo by Emilio Andreoli/Getty Images)

The Czech side lost 4-1 at home to French outfit Lille in their opening game before going down 3-0 to Italian giants AC Milan in the San Siro.

Vaclav Kotal's side will need to get a positive result against the Hoops at Celtic Park - where the game again will be played behind closed doors - before they take them back to Prague, if they are to have any realistic hopes of getting through to the next stage.

But domestically...

On the domestic front, Sparta top their league with a perfect 18 points.

The capital club, who have won the top league 33 times and who finished third last season, have been in impressive form since the start of the current campaign, scoring 20 and conceding six in six league matches.

The Czech league is closed at the moment due to the Covid-19 crisis and Sparta's last league game was a 2-1 win over Jablonec on October 3, and thus their last two matches have been in Europe.

European record

Sparta have yet to win a major European trophy.

However, in 1991/92 they came close to reaching the final of the European Cup, the first to have a group stage from which the winning clubs progressed to the final, before the competition was re-branded as the Champions League.

Sparta beat Rangers on away goals in the first round that season, a 2-1 defeat in extra-time at Ibrox following a 1-0 home win.

Sparta finished second to Barcelona in their group stage - despite beating the Catalans 1-0 in Prague - with Barca progressing to the final where they beat Sampdoria at Wembley.

The Czech club reached the semi-final of the 1973 European Cup winners' Cup which had a traditional knockout format, but were knocked out by AC Milan.

After losing 1-0 at the San Siro - refereed by Scotland's John Paterson - Sparta lost by the same scoreline at home to Milan in the second leg, with the Serie A outfit beating Leeds in the final.

Coach

Neil Lennon will pit his wits against veteran boss Vaclav Kotal. The 68-year-old played for Sparta as a forward between 1973 and 1982, winning the Czechoslovak cup twice, in 1976 and 1980.

Kotal has had a varied managerial career. Amid a long list of clubs, he was Czech Republic Under-17s boss, Sparta Prague reserves coach several times and first-team assistant, before he became first-team boss in February 2020.

Watch

Tomorrow’s game is on television and available to stream online – click here for more details.

A message from the Editor:Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.