Viktoria Plzeň seal maiden Czech crown
Saturday, May 21, 2011
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"We deserved this success," said triumphant coach Pavel Vrba after his FC Viktoria Plzeň side beat FC Baník Ostrava 3-1 to secure a maiden Czech First League title in their 100-year history.
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FC Viktoria Plzeň have won their first ever Czech First League title having come from behind to defeat FC Baník Ostrava 3-1 and stay four points clear of previous champions AC Sparta Praha with one round of fixtures remaining.
A 7,000 sell-out crowd were in the mood to celebrate even prior to kick-off but had their enthusiasm dampened when Martin Lukeš put the visitors in front after just five minutes. Petr Jiráček levelled the scores on 25 minutes, though, and then set up Marek Bakoš to put the hosts in front just after the half-hour.
Captain Pavel Horváth added the icing on the cake with a 64th-minute free-kick to earn Plzeň, unbeaten in 12 league games, a first domestic crown in their 100-year history.
"It's a great result because before the season hardly anybody believed we could win it," said triumphant coach Pavel Vrba, who won the title as an assistant at Baník Ostrava in 2004. "But we defeated our main rivals [Sparta] in both games, so we deserved this success".