Malta suffered a highly disappointing 7-1 defeat to Czechia in a friendly match at the MGG Arena in Grodig, Austria on Friday.

Although Malta coach Michele Marcolini could not field his best formation, it was still no excuse for such a disappointing performance. Czechia, who are one of the finalists in EURO 2024 which kicks-off in a few days, were in excellent form and with all players eager to impress, they took full advantage of the poor performance by the Maltese to register a most comfortable win.

Photos courtesy of domenic aquilina

It took Czechia just six minutes to take the lead when they were awarded a penalty after Steve Borg handled the ball off a cross by David Jurasek from the left and from the penalty spot, Antonin Barak converted.

One minute from the end of the first half, Czechia doubled the score when off an assist by Vladimir Coufal, Mojmir Chytil all alone slotted the ball past Bonello.

Three minutes in the second half, Chytil served David Jurasek on the left and the latter beat Bonello with an angled shot.

Mojmir Chytil scored the fourth goal on the 57th minute, heading the ball home off a Coufal cross from the right.

Malta pulled one back on the 58th thanks to Paul Mbong who pounced on a through pass on the right and rounded the goalkeeper before hitting home.

Nine minutes later, another Paul Mbong goal was ruled out for an offside.

However Czechia made it 5-1 on the 71st when a cross shot by Matej Jurasek from the right was partially saved by Bonello with the ball hitting the upright and Ondrej Lingr placed the ball at the back of the net.

Malta were reduced to ten men on the 84th when Joseph Mbong was sent off for headbutting an opponent and four minutes from time, Matej Jurasek received an assist by Pavel Sulc from the left and beat Bonello with an angled shot to extend the lead further.

Substitute Vaclav Cerny scored the seventh goal one minute from time with a curling shot from outside the area which ended in the top left corner.

Malta will be in action once again on Tuesday in a friendly match against Greece at the same venue.

Czechia Matej Kovar (Vitezslav Jaros 46), Martin Vitik, Robin Hranac, David Zima, Michal Sadilek, Vladimir Coufal (Tomas Vlck 63), David Jurasek (Matej Jurasek 63), Antonin Barak (Ondrej Lingr 56), Pavel Sulc, Tomas Chory (Vaclav Cerny 63), Mojmir Chytil (Lukas Cerv 79).

Malta Henry Bonello, Jean Borg, Enrico Pepe (Zach Muscat 49), Steve Borg (Kurt Shaw 77), Ryan Camenzuli (Juan Corbalan 69), Joseph Mbong, Steve Pisani (Matias Garcia 69), Matthew Guillaumier, Teddy Teuma (Jake Grech 77), Paul Mbong, Kemar Reid (Alex Satariano 46).

Referee Stefan Ebner (Austria)