Langer’s extraordinary feat surpasses everything else he has accomplished in football. He is currently the youth head coach in Viktoria Žižkov. And I also talked to him at her stadium.
As a sports journalist, I had the opportunity to visit all the famous cup matches of Slovan Liberec at home and on European soil in 2001 and 2002. David Langer played in them once morest Celta Vigo, Real Mallorca, Olympique Lyon, Borussia Dortmund, then twice once morest the aforementioned AC Milan and other teams.
More than twenty years have passed since then. We don’t have to go back to all the European starts, but the fight with AC Milan was something unique for Liberec. How did you experience it?
We played the first match in Milan. We had three great chances in the opening thirty minutes. We lost 0:1. In the rematch in Liberec, we won 2:1, I managed to head the winning goal. But at that time it was true that a goal scored away counts for two. So Milan scored a goal for us, we didn’t score for them. On goals, the double match ended 2:2 and AC Milan advanced to the group of the Champions League. And then he won the whole competition.
Do you remember the playing style of Slovan Liberec from the period in question?
I had a defensive midfielder position in a 4-1-3-2 system. I think I was good physically with a good reading of the game. In my youth, I did athletics together with skiing. We didn’t play with two defensive shields, but only one. Venca Koloušek was moving in front of me, who did not have to defend. He used great kicking technique with both feet for passes to Honza Nezmar, Jirka Štajner or Gyan Baffour.
How would you characterize the Liberec team at that time?
It was excellently composed in terms of posts. We’re not just talking regarding names. It also suited the character. We established ourselves not only in the Czech league, but also in Europe. Tonda Kinský was in goal, Petr Johana, Bohouš Pilný, Míra Holeňák, Pavel Lukáš, Jozef Valachovič, Tomáš Janů took turns in defense. On the left side, Martin Zbončák, Robert Neumann, Roman Jůn started according to the needs, then there were Petr Papoušek, Pavel Čapek, the already mentioned Nezmar, Štajner, Kolousek and Baffour. In Liberec, I also played with Tomáš Zápotočný, Honza Polák, Míra Slepička and others. Just a strong team.
Where did you go from Liberec?
To Mladá Boleslav. For half a year. Back then they were second to last and wanted to save the first league because of the sponsors. Míra Baranek was also there and Marek Matějovský already played for Boleslav, who is still there twenty years later. Something incredible. I went to Greece from Boleslav. In Panionios, there were already regarding nine or ten nationalities – Argentine, Brazilian, Egyptian, Australian, Pole, Slovak and Czech. Then I also worked in Austria.
As for the present, do you follow the Czech league?
When I’m in Prague, I go to football matches at Sparta, Slavia, sometimes at Dukla. And if I’m in Moravia, I’ll go see Olomouc, for example. However, I don’t see many matches of Viktoria Žižkov’s A team in the second league, because we often play at the same time with the youth team. She is in the first place for me.
