Alexander Karavaev: “They wanted to prove that they won first place in the group for good reason”

Defender of the national team of Ukraine Oleksandr Karavayev summed up the results of the final match of the blue-yellows in the selection of Euro 2020, away against Serbia, which ended with a score of 2: 2.

- Alexander, what will be your conclusion about the game of the Ukrainian national team against Serbia in Belgrade?

- I will say this: we tried to play with the whole team both in defense and attack. But these goals… Missed from an incomprehensible penalty, and then the second goal, when the ball flew behind. It is a pity that they missed. It's unpleasant, but the main thing is that we scored points. As a result, we did not lose a single match in the group, and this adds confidence to the future.

- This match decided almost nothing for Ukraine. What was your motivation?

- The motivation was to prove to ourselves that we want to keep what we have achieved earlier in this selection cycle. Sometimes you win one or two matches and then you lose everything. We wanted to play for the victory and wanted to prove that it is not for nothing that they are the leaders of the group and it is not by chance that we reached the Euro final from the first place.

- Andriy Shevchenko said at the post-match press conference that he was dissatisfied with the way the team started both halves…

- Yes, it is impossible to disagree with his words. We will disassemble this game, make adjustments. Indeed, at first we agreed to act differently, but only after the 20th minute we started playing our game, our scheme worked. We started playing, and we equalized the score. We already had such matches as, for example, with Slovakia last year, when he no longer decided anything, and we lost by a large margin. So we drew conclusions and now we have played more responsibly.

- Did you feel that the Serbs want revenge for the humiliating defeat - 0: 5 in Lviv?

- Yes, we felt that the hosts want to win back for that match. But we also had our goals in this match.

- There were not so many Serbian fans at the match, the stadium was half empty. Did it make it easier for Ukrainians to play?

- Do not think. I prefer when the stadium is full, even if at the expense of the opponent's fans. So playing is much more enjoyable, more adrenaline and motivation.

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