Sweet memories for Sigma

By Ladislav Josef

SK Sigma Olomouc's UEFA Intertoto Cup semi-final against Hamburger SV tonight evokes one of the most glorious periods in the Czech club's history.

Brückner's babes
That came in the 1991/92 season, when a young squad under the tutelage of Karel Brückner - the current Czech Republic coach - reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals, knocking out Hamburg along the way. The collection of largely unknown Czechoslovakian players, participating for only the second time in European competition, were ultimately beaten by Real Madrid CF, and then only 2-1 on aggregate.

Hapal's magic
The highlight of the run were undoubtedly the games with Hamburg. Sigma had first eliminated Bangor City FC and FC Torpedo Moskva but went into the third-round tie as clear outsiders. However, they stunned their German rivals with a 2-1 away victory in the first leg with midfielder Pavel Hapal scoring twice.

One-sided affair
The 22-year-old added another goal in the return which ended 4-1 to Sigma, and the Bundesliga would soon become Hapal's new home. Within a few weeks he had signed for Bayer 04 Leverkusen. The other scorers in the home leg were Roman Kerbr, Radoslav Látal and Roman Hanus and the victory margin could have been greater - substitute goalkeeper Nils Bahr saving Hanus's penalty after replacing the red-carded Richard Gölz.

Madrid go behind
That brought European giants Madrid to the Andruv stadium in Olomouc as Sigma again punched above their weight, Hapal giving his team the lead before Fernando Hierro levelled. The home side were edgy as indicated by the fact they lost two players to red cards.

German success
Látal was in that team and also won the UEFA Cup the following season with FC Schalke 04. Other Sigma players went on to make their name in Germany although not as successfully as Hapal and Látal. Kerbr played for SpVgg Greuther Fürth while Michal Kovář, who will face Hamburg again tonight as the only survivor from 1992, was with FC Hansa Rostock.

Goalkeeper problem
Coach Petr Uličný has selection problems for tonight's fixture with striker Michal Hubník and midfielder Radim König sidelined by injuries incurred in the away-goals triumph over BV Borussia Dortmund. Captain Radim Kučera and Radek Špiláček are still out but the coach's biggest headache concerns the goalkeeping position where Slovakian Tomáš Lovásik – promoted to No1 following Martin Vaniak's move to Panionios NFC – received a second booking on Saturday. That leaves 19-year-old Martin Blaha, still to make his league debut, to keep out the Hamburg attack.

'Big blow'
"It's a big blow, but we must cope with that," said vice-captain Kovář, who sat on the substitutes' bench the last time the clubs met. "If we don't concede a goal in the first game we have a chance of going through. Hamburg are a better side than Dortmund and they feel they are close to the UEFA Cup but then we also have the same feeling."