Ruslan Rotan: "We made individual mistakes for many games ahead"

15.11.2019 23:49

Photo by Yevhen Kraws

Head coach of the Ukrainian national team Ruslan Rotan commented on the results of the Euro-2021 (U-21) match with Denmark.

In its fourth match of the qualifying tournament Euro-2021 (U-21), the youth national team of Ukraine in Lviv with a score of 2: 3 lost  team of Denmark. After the match, the coach of the blue-yellows Ruslan Rotan answered journalists' questions.

- The match today did not start as we wanted, - said the leader of the Ukrainians. - We made individual mistakes for many games ahead, but it is the mistakes that need to be learned. Only with the score 0: 2 I managed to break the game a bit, so I want to thank the guys for their character. In the second half we played much better and could bring the match even to victory.

At the same time, I am dissatisfied with the game, because the result could be better. I want to thank Lviv fans for the atmosphere at the stadium. It was really great, and the young players felt it for themselves. I apologize to the spectators for today's defeat, but I hope that with each match we will play better and better.

- We will not make a tragedy out of this defeat, because there are six more fights ahead ...

- Yes, really, nobody does a tragedy. I am still sure that we are on the right track. We are restructuring, so next year the results should be better. 

- Don't you think that Tsitaishvili's creativity deserves more playing time?

- I agree with you that creativity deserves it. But we have other creative players, the same Bogdan Lednev. He may not have had the best match today, but, for example, the fact that this artist has more playing time in the Premier League plays in his favor. Unfortunately, after such an unsuccessful start, the whole team received a psychological blow, including Lednev. That's why the whole first half actually fell out of the game for us. 

- What changed after the break? What did you tell the players in the locker room?

- I just asked them to calm down, to stop making children's mistakes. He asked them to work faster with the ball and play sharper, that is, to do what was missing in the first half of the match. 

- It seems that you told our guys to play against Andreas Olsen in a different way during the break ...

- Yes, I think you all know the transfer value of this player - about 8 million euros. He is an individual very strong football player.