On Thursday, 10 August, in the first match of the 3rd qualifying round of the Conference League, Dynamo Kyiv lost 0:1 away to Greek Aris. The meeting took place in Thessaloniki at the stadium "Kleantis Vikelidis". Here is the post-match press conference of the head coach of the Ukrainian team Mircea Lucescu.
Mircea Lucescu- "Aris deserved this victory, which it secured in the second part of the second half. Today's game was equal, we started playing too late to score - only after we conceded. We expected that the opponent would come out of the zone, which would give us space. They managed to score from the penalty spot. But there is still one more match to be played in Bucharest.
I would also like to mention the fans who pushed their team forward. Unfortunately, we can not play with fans - only friendlies. Therefore, such support was a surprise for us, we felt the pressure. If we could also play at home with spectators...
- Did your expectations from the Aris game before the match differ from what you saw on the pitch today?
- No, the hosts played first of all to score. They also played well in defence, they managed to create some corridors and at the same time to prevent our players from scoring.
Before the game I expected Aris to play more attacking football, but they didn't, they waited and earned a penalty.
- Do you feel that you were lucky today, because Aris had the opportunity to score more?
- Yes, indeed, Aris had the opportunity to score twice more. There were none in the first half, but there were enough in the second half. Mainly through the left flank, where Yarmolenko did not follow Ferrari, he made a lot of very dangerous passes, and after that the opponent could score. But mistakes led to that.
