Midfielder and captain of the youth national team of Ukraine Artem Bondarenko commented on the victory over Romania (1-0) in yesterday's second round group stage match of Euro 2023 (U-21).
Artem Bondarenko (right). Photo by Oksana Vasylieva- The most pleasant thing for me today is the way we reacted to the difficult opening 10 minutes and took control of the game. And the second thing is that we gnawed the result with our teeth. It wasn't easy for us, and it's in moments like this that our team shows its true colours.
- Before the match, you said that you would like to improve your goalscoring and qualifying performance. You didn't manage to score. After the match, how do you assess your performance in the qualifiers?
- In short, there is something to work on. As it was before the match, so it remained after it. Both in selection and in statistics.
- How did the team cope with the stuffiness at the stadium? It seemed that the players of the Ukrainian national team did not come up to drink water as often, while the Romanians did it regularly. Were we more resilient than our opponents?
- After the first match of the tournament, we adapted. Today it felt easier to breathe. But when you go outside, it feels like you're in a sauna. Our team wanted to keep up the pace, not to get lost in these little pauses every time. We didn't need it. When a team closes down, you don't let the opponent breathe. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why we won today.
