Georgia — Ukraine — 1:1. Post-match press conference. Sergey Rebrov: "The result weighed heavily, affected the players"

On Saturday, November 16, the Ukrainian national team played a 1:1 draw with the Georgian national team in the 5th round of the Nations League 2024/25. We present to you the post-match press conference of the head coach of the Ukrainian national team Sergey Rebrov.

— I told the team that I was grateful for their effort. It was difficult to create anything on such a heavy pitch. And with such high mistakes, it is very hard to achieve a result. Especially against an opponent like the Georgian national team when they play at home with such great support.

Unfortunately, we did not hold on to the winning result. We could have snatched the victory; at the end of the match, we had the opportunity to score. But we have what we have, and we are preparing for no less important match against Albania.

— What was the main factor of this match? And how did the first and second halves differ?

— I believe the main factor was that we scored an early goal. The result was very important for us today. And the players tried to maintain this result. Probably because of that, there was such a high mistake rate; perhaps that’s why we 'sat' in a quite low block. It’s very hard. The guys understand what country they are playing for and give their all, but I believe that today the result weighed heavily; it affected the players. We played against the Georgian national team on their home ground, which had very strong crowd support. I believe our opponent played with a different motivation compared to our first match.

— In the second half, you communicated several times with Mudrik on the sidelines. What were you saying to him? And the second question: how well were you able to handle Kvaratskhelia today?

— I talked to Mudrik because he really put in a lot of intense work. I gave him hints on several moments. He is an important player for us; he creates a lot of speed and helped the team in attack. I asked him how ready he was because the pitch was very difficult.

As for the second question, I think everyone once again saw that Kvaratskhelia is a player of a very high level. Individually, he is a very strong footballer. Not only Konoplya managed to deal with his tasks in countering this performer, but also the players who helped him because it is very difficult to play one-on-one against Khvicha.

— Today, there were both Georgian and Ukrainian fans in the stadium. They are friends. What would you like to say to them regarding this?

— I am grateful to the Georgian fans. They sang a very interesting song today (“P**in — h**lo” — ed. note). This is very important. I have a very sincere attitude towards the Georgian people; I have many friends here. I am grateful for the position of the citizens of Georgia who truly support Ukraine, as was shown in today’s match. And generally, when the war started, we felt a lot of support from the Georgians.

Alexander POPOV