Lukas Hradecky starts on the bench for Leverkusen in the Champions League match against Salzburg. Kaan Kairinen’s Sparta Praha got an ugly backlash from Atletico Madrid.
21:23•Updated 21:38
Leverkusen captain Lukas Hradecky missing from Leverkusen’s starting line-up for tonight’s Champions League soccer match against Salzburg.
Hradecky starts from the bench. He has played three out of four Champions League matches so far. At the weekend, he saved as usual with a goal when Leverkusen defeated Heidenheim 5–2.
In the previous Champions League match, Hradecky had to surrender four times when Liverpool beat Leverkusen 4–0 at home. The loss was Hradecky’s first in all competitions in a Leverkusen shirt since spring 2023.
Leverkusen’s long unbeaten streak in the Bundesliga was interrupted at the beginning of the season, but then Leverkusen’s goal was guarded by a Czech goalkeeper who still plays today Matej Kovar.
In the match that started at 19:45 Kairinen too represented by Sparta Praha got an ugly backlash from Atletico Madrid. The away team won as much as 6–0. Argentinian strikers Julian Alvarez and Angel Correa both hit twice.
Kairinen, who scored twice in this season’s Champions League, was able to try to score in the opening minutes of the match, but the shot from less than 20 meters was missed. The Finn played in Sparta’s midfield the entire match.
Sparta has collected one out of the five matches they have played and is about to remain in the Champions League without a further place.
Champions League evening matches:
at 7:45 p.m
Sparta Prague–Atletico Madrid 0–6
Slovan Bratislava–AC Milan 2–3
at 10 p.m
Manchester City-Feyenoord
Bayern Munich-PSG
Inter–Leipzig
Barcelona–Brest
Leverkusen–Salzburg
Sporting-Arsenal
Young Boys–Atalanta