Hero Kincl celebrates 'goal of my life'

AC Sparta Praha hero Marek Kincl was understandably jubilant after his 93rd-minute goal gave his side a 1-0 win over S.S. Lazio at the Letná stadium and sent them into the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League.

Stage was set
"This is the most important goal I have scored in my whole life," he said. "I feel great. If it was my last goal for Sparta I could not dream of a better way to end it." Sparta were outsiders at the start of play, but still had a significant chance of hauling in Besiktas JK in a competitve Group G. With the Turkish club losing 2-0 to Chelsea FC at the Arena Aufschalke in Gelsenkirchen, the stage was set for late drama.

Dramatic end
Both Lazio and Sparta had spurned their chances, and both had hit the woodwork in the second half. Then, three minutes into added time, the referee gave a free-kick as Dejan Stankovic tripped Karel Poborský. The Sparta players were angry at not being allowed to play advantage, but that was soon forgotten. "Poborský's cross from the free-kick was excellent and we had a little luck," said Kincl.

Kotrba delight
Sparta coach Jirí Kotrba thought the moment had passed when the referee gave the foul against Stankovic. "When the referee stopped our attack with 92 minutes played, I thought the win was beyond us," he admitted. "It is a big success for Sparta and I'm delighted that I will be the coach of this club when the Champions League resumes in the spring.

Tough start
"The first 20 minutes were not good for us," Kotrba continued. "But as the game progressed we got better. In the second half we were under some big pressure at certain stages. Lazio had many chances to score."

Brilliant Blazek
Indeed, for Sparta were indebted to their goalkeeper Jaromír Blazek who made a series of excellent saves to deny the Italians. "It was a very hard game for us," said Blazek. "In the first half I was lucky when Stankovic had a chance to score when one-on-one. And the key moment of the second half was when they hit the post. Both teams needed the win and Lazio were playing with three or four forwards. We had some good fortune."

'Big mistake'
Inevitably, Lazio coach Roberto Mancini was disappointed by the late goal that ended his side's hopes in the Champions League, and also saw them miss out on a place in the UEFA Cup third round. "We made a big mistake to concede that goal in the last minute of the game," he said. "It is a goal that will not affect my evaluation of the six games we played in the group - it is important only for Sparta."

'Many chances'
The timing of Sparta's goal was almost as painful as watching the way his side had spurned their chances, Mancini admitted. "We created many chances - we had seven, eight, nine chances to score," he said. "We had the better of the first half and they had the better of the second. In the last league match [a 2-0 home win over Juventus FC on Saturday] we were excellent, tonight we were many times worse. We simply did not deserve to go to the next stage."