Kryvbas head coach Yuriy Vernydub commented on his team's 0-1 defeat to Czech side Viktoria in the return leg of the Europa League 3rd qualifying round, which took place yesterday in Pilsen. It will be recalled that the Ukrainian team failed to qualify for the next round on the basis of the sum of two meetings (1:2, 0:1).
Yuriy Vernydub"I want to congratulate the Victoria team on reaching the Europa League playoffs. I wish them to get past Hearts and have a long tournament journey in this tournament. "Kryvbas will play in the Conference League playoffs. We are waiting for another powerful opponent - Spanish Betis. For us, this is a school. "Victoria won both matches thanks to their experience in European tournaments. Our opponent was also stronger in anthropometry. Although as for the game itself, we also had some good moments, but we didn't use them.
What was not enough for success? Many factors. This is a lack of experience, because we are only taking our first steps in European tournaments. Victoria has much more experience. Secondly, logistics. It is much easier for the opponent to travel. "Kryvbas can't play at home and travel abroad. Our home stadium is in Kosice. You know, we play in Slovakia and then return to Ukraine by bus.
We spend a lot of time at the border. We play in Ukraine and then go abroad again. Somewhere our players are lacking in this regard. We don't have the freshness that our rivals have. Somewhere we do not have time to recover physically. I think this is the most important thing.
In general, Victoria is a good opponent, but Kryvbas also looked decent. The only thing is that they won two games and we lost twice. As for the first meeting: we shouldn't have lost in Kosice, but it happened. Once again, I congratulate the opponent on the victory," Vernydub said.
