Czech mates looking for last laugh as Kadlec eyes Euro renaissance

HEARTS striker Roman Bednar did not take long to hit the phones after the UEFA Cup draw paired Vladimir Romanov's side with Sparta Prague last week.

His first call was to Michal Kadlec, the 21-year-old left-back who was close to joining Celtic in the summer. The pair have been team-mates for the Czech Republic under-21 side and used to share a room on international duty.

"I spoke to Roman for about 20 minutes after the draw was made and we both had a good laugh that we will be up against each other," said Kadlec before Sparta's game against Zlin yesterday. "We've had some good times together with the national squad and I haven't got a bad word to say against him. But he told me that there was no point in us coming to Scotland for the first leg next week as we would definitely lose and it would only be a waste of our time."

Bednar may not have been joking: last season was Sparta's worst for 25 years and this campaign has not started much better. Despite keeping their key players - including Kadlec, captain Tomas Sivok and striker Zdenek Pospech - and signing Czech international forward Tomas Jun on loan and French midfielder Ludovic Sylvestre from Barcelona reserves, Sparta are stuck in mid-table with just one win from their first five league games before last night.

Last week former Sparta hero Michal Bilek replaced the beleaguered Stanislav Griga as coach, and Kadlec is sure the timing of the appointment will help the preparations for the European tie. "We have been working hard since our new coach came in and hopefully the results will come in our favour soon enough," he said.

Bilek, who won seven league titles at Sparta, has released three players this week and told the players of his plans for the future. "I sat them all down and told them there is a lot of work ahead of us," he said. "We all have to aim for the same target, which is to get Sparta back to the top level, and to do that we need to be strong and disciplined."

Those are two words that perfectly describe Kadlec's no-nonsense style of defending. He has been a first-team regular at Sparta since joining them from Slovacko 18 months ago, but before then almost made Czech football history in a bizarre way. His father is former Czech international Miroslav Kadlec, who captained the national team to the Euro 96 final. In 2001, Kadlec Snr was playing out his final season at Brno, while 16-year-old Michal was on the books of Slovacko. When the two sides faced each other that season, Michal was on the bench, but he never came on to face his father. "It was a shame we never faced each other, as that would have been nice," he said.

Kadlec claimed that Bilek's arrival this week has already boosted confidence in the squad, whose desire to continue in the competition is fierce.

"We are desperate to reach the groups stages," he said. "But we know we have got two very tough games ahead and there is no favourite before the match starts. The result will depend on the form of the teams on the day, rather than anything else. At the moment I think we are pretty evenly-matched.

"I listened to what Roman had to say and then I replied, and said that Sparta would be the team that will go through."

Taken from the Scotsman