Chelsea may have avoided the more established teams in the Europa League quarter-final draw, but the Blues would be foolish to underestimate Slavia Prague on Thursday.
Slavia coach Jindrich Trpisovsky guided his side to a famous win over five-time winners Sevilla in a thrilling 6-5 aggregate victory, thanks to a 119th-minute strike from Ibrahima Traore.
That victory confirmed their place in the quarter-final of a European competition for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, where they were defeated by Leeds in the last eight.
While their European pedigree is perhaps smaller than Sparta Prague or Viktoria Plzen, this is a club steeped in history.
Formed in 1892, Slavia Prague are the second most successful club since Czech Republic formed in 1993 with 18 league titles.
The club now play their games at Sparta Krc’s Stadion Evzena Rosickeho after being forced out of their old stadium because a statue of Soviet leader Josef Stalin was being built there to replace it.
This is not exactly uncharted territory for the club, having reached the Uefa Cup semi-finals in 1996. They also reached the Champions League group stages in 2007-08 but dropped down to the Uefa Cup, where they went out 3-2 on aggregate to Chelsea's rivals Tottenham.
The Czechs are a talented team and tactically, they are tough to beat. In their last Europa League matches, they pushed high up the pitch when Sevilla had goal-kicks, hoping to force them into losing possession. They could execute a similar tactic tonight, with Chelsea always keen to play it out from the back.
Given the sheer size of Chelsea's youth system over the years, it's no surprise that one of their former academy players could line up against them tonight. Slovakian winger Miroslav Stoch, who left the Blues in 2010, joined Slavia in 2017 after spells at Fenerbahce, PAOK and Bursaspor.
On their run to the Europa League quarter-finals, Slavia have caused more than a few upsets.
They beat Bordeaux, Zenit St Petersburg and FC Copenhagen in the group stage before edging past Genk in the round of 32 knockout stage. And despite being huge underdogs against Sevilla, they secured a famous 6-5 (AET) aggregate win over the five-time winners to make the last eight.
While it is a tall order to expect Slavia to repeat their heroics, Chelsea will need to reach top form to ensure they don't end up on the wrong side of a shock defeat.
