Mircea Lucescu: We wanted more
Friday, May 6, 2016
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Post-match press conference by Shakhtar head coach
- My congratulations to Sevilla and I wish them to produce a great performance in the final. Lucky team. They took advantage of our errors in Lviv, plus a spot kick was awarded against us. And today, they’ve capitalised on our mistakes in the first half and early in the second one. Overall, it was a good, entertaining and aggressive game, which must have pleased the udience. The refereeing manner of the Dutch referee, who rarely stopped the game, also contributed to it. Sevilla deserved to win because of our mistakes. Instead of giving the initiative to the opponents and waiting for their attacks, we missed the counterattacks. Playing away, one shouldn’t create opportunities for two counterattacks for the hosts and concede two goals. In general, I am satisfied with my team’s performance. It is necessary to take into account the fact that we have been constantly on airplanes, in hotels, appearing on the training pitch less often. Of course, we wanted more. I think we deserved to get to this stage of the Europa League. And we really wanted to win, to reach the final. Today, we have played against a very experienced team. They fought for every ball, without exception, acted very aggressively and scored, because they’ve probably deserved it.
- You mean that Sevilla were lucky today to have score the opener?
- No, I mean the second goal in Lviv. Today, we conceded the first goal due to our player’s error. While Sevilla have always been lucky, just as in 2007, when an episode involving Palop actually hapened.
- What did you say to the team in the dressing room after the match?
- I congratulated the team on the way they’ve covered in the Europa League! Let us not forget that during the current year, we have lost six major players. The most noticeable were Fred and Teixeira back in January. They were replaced by two Ukrainian players Malyshev and Kovalenko, who did it very successfully: the boys looked good during all this time. They are young players. They still need time to gain experience. So I just congratulated the players. I told them that we started the second half not as we were supposed to. We knew that Sevilla would start the second half very aggressively. We had to be patient for some 5-10 minutes just like at the end of the first half. Again, it’s not normal to concede two goals after counterattacks.
- After the match, have you got closer to extending the contract with Shakhtar or going away?
- Today, we have played a very important match. On Sunday, we are facing the league game against Karpaty, with the second cup meeting against Oleksandriya. So far these are the only things that interest me. As for the rest, there will be other time.
- You mean that Sevilla were lucky today to have score the opener?
- No, I mean the second goal in Lviv. Today, we conceded the first goal due to our player’s error. While Sevilla have always been lucky, just as in 2007, when an episode involving Palop actually hapened.
- What did you say to the team in the dressing room after the match?
- I congratulated the team on the way they’ve covered in the Europa League! Let us not forget that during the current year, we have lost six major players. The most noticeable were Fred and Teixeira back in January. They were replaced by two Ukrainian players Malyshev and Kovalenko, who did it very successfully: the boys looked good during all this time. They are young players. They still need time to gain experience. So I just congratulated the players. I told them that we started the second half not as we were supposed to. We knew that Sevilla would start the second half very aggressively. We had to be patient for some 5-10 minutes just like at the end of the first half. Again, it’s not normal to concede two goals after counterattacks.
- After the match, have you got closer to extending the contract with Shakhtar or going away?
- Today, we have played a very important match. On Sunday, we are facing the league game against Karpaty, with the second cup meeting against Oleksandriya. So far these are the only things that interest me. As for the rest, there will be other time.
