Jaroslav Silhavy has backed Patrik Schick to follow in Czech great Milan Baros’ footsteps and win the Golden Boot at the Euros.
The Bayer Leverkusen ace now has three goals for the tournament after following up his sensational brace in Monday’s win over Scotland with a penalty against the Czech Republic.
The 1-1 draw in Glasgow means the Czechs have one foot in the second found after taking four points from two games.
Silhavy is convinced his team will march on – and believes Schick can emulate former Liverpool striker Baros, who finished top scorer at the 2004 finals in Portugal.
He said: “We know Patrik is a great goalscorer and he confirmed that. I believe we will advance to the next stage and he will score many more goals here.
“Milan was a great scorer. If I remember he was the top scorer at the Euros in Portugal and I would hope the same happens for Patrik.
“Obviously we’re very happy because getting a draw against such a strong opponent is a worthy feat.
“Maybe Croatia was stronger in the second half. I’m sorry about the goal we conceded because we weren’t concentrating.
“They really started quickly on the set-piece and (Ivan) Perisic managed to score. That was avoidable. But we’re happy with one point – now let’s see how we continue.
“Had we been a bit more courageous with our finishing maybe it could have been different. Croatia were more dangerous in the second half so a draw is a just result.”
Schick continued his Hampden hot-streak thanks to a controversial penalty awarded against Dejan Lovren. The Zenit St Petersburg defender was harshly penalised for catching the tournament’s top-scorer with a high elbow.
However, the spot-kick was not enough to claim a second successive victory for Silhavy’s team as Inter Milan star Ivan Perisic levelled just after half-time for the 2018 World Cup runners-up.
But they must beat Scotland on Tuesday to stand any chance of progressing.
Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic said: “After the penalty – I’m not quite sure what to say about that – we tried to up the intensity and missed 100 per cent chances in the second half.
“We were better than in the first half and somehow we got back into the game. We are going to try and win the last game and move on.
“First of all we need to win on Tuesday. Four points is going to be sufficient to move on. We cannot talk about goal difference just now, the most important thing is to win.
“It can be complicated for the second position but for the third one, victory will be sufficient.”
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