Former Ukraine forward Andriy Vorobey expressed his opinion on the result of the Euro 2024 qualifying match between Ukraine and Italy in an interview with the UPL TV telegram channel.
- We all saw the progress of the national team and the attitude with which our players treated this game - with character, desire and good quality of play. It all gives us great hope.
- What was missing to score a goal?
- Let's start from the fact that the opponent was the European champions. If we had played them, for example, six months ago or a little more, when they were in a slump, the situation would have been different. But now their team is on the rise. So, first of all, we lacked luck.
- We attacked a lot, but we couldn't create a real scoring chance...
- We had good attacks and chances. I wouldn't say that we didn't play well in attack. We attacked well against the top defenders and the top team. And we also had a man in a blue uniform who did not dare to give a penalty against the Italians at the end of the game.
- Do you think there was a penalty?
- More like yes than no. If Mudryk hadn't started to fall a little too early. But there was contact. And if such a moment had happened in our penalty area, the referee would have instantly awarded a penalty. I won't say for sure, but there could have been a priority for the Italian national team to reach the Euros.
- What elements of the game in our performance should be noted?
- Although the Italians were pressing, our guys acted very cool and calm, quickly moving from defence to attack and between the second and third lines they were great at receiving balls and developing attacks - the same Sudakov, the same Zinchenko, Tsygankov. From this game, we can't say that we failed at all. We played very decent football.
- Now we will play in the playoffs. The opponent may be Wales, to whom we lost in the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup. What to expect?
- Any team that has reached the playoffs is a strong team that cannot be underestimated. And we need to approach it with the same attitude as we did for Italy. Our team is stronger now than when we played Wales in the previous play-offs.