Head coach of Luhansk Zoria Nenad Lalatovic summarised the results of his team's first match against Slavia Prague (0:2) in the play-off round of Europa League qualification, which took place yesterday in the Czech capital.
Nenad Lalatovic"This victory Slavia deserved. The opponents had several good chances to realise in the first half, but our goalkeeper, despite the loss, was the best player today.
Unfortunately, we did not have Rusin, Butko, Danchenko in the lineup, and these are the guys from the base, who always help us. The team gave their best. It was not easy to play after two days of travelling, it is mentally and physically exhausting. In the first half of the game, unfortunately, we did not create chances. In the second half they were, but we did not realise them. There were good chances from both Alefirenko and Michin, the guys tried to finish the opportunities, but it was not meant to be.
"Slavia" at the end of the game showed their strength, they worked on a level with us on the pitch, but managed to score another goal on 90+ minutes. Where the opponent could have scored, he did not score, but where the goal could not be - he scored. Still, we thank our players, they showed their maximum today, we return to Ukraine and resume training.
We have to "build a new team", because many players left the club after we took the 3rd place last season. So far we have all those players in the team, who can claim to be top-level in the Ukrainian Premier League, but there is still a lot of work ahead, we are forming a new team. This match could look differently, but it is what it is. We return home and prepare for an important match with "Minai".
As for the return match with Slavia, football always has a chance to show something new. 2:0 is a rather shaky score, which at any time can turn in favour of the losing team. We will 100 per cent show more aggressive football in the home game. We hope that it will be a radically different game. Of course, we wanted to play on our field, in Ukraine at Avangard. But we will play away again. But we believe in our team and guys", - Lalatovic's words are quoted by the official website of Zorya.
