Malta's head coach Michele Marcolini summed up the results of the match with Ukraine forSuspilne.
- "It's a shame to lose the first half with a score of 1-2, especially with such two conceded goals. It was a very unfortunate penalty, where our player was completely alone and the ball rolled into the goal. And then the penalty, but I believe that the penalty episode was the technique and skills of the Ukrainian Mudryk, who ran with the ball very quickly. Mentally, it was very difficult for us at that moment. The crossbar? That's one of the reasons why it's a shame about the result.
In the second half, we tried, we fought, we pressed high, we took a lot of shots, but unfortunately we couldn't equalise. I feel sorry for the Maltese players because they deserved a different result, they played a very good match.
Ukraine has great players, they are fighting with Italy for second place. Malta's players showed their desire and willingness to fight for a good result. A draw or a victory over Ukraine would have been an incredible result for us, we wanted it very much. But we couldn't achieve it, it's a shame. We will focus on the positive aspects of this match - and there were many of them.
Mudryk is an incredible player. We lost because he constantly created danger, earned a penalty and scored a goal. That's why a club like Chelsea pays him a lot. This is football, players like him make the difference - and he made the difference today," said Marcolini.