The defender of the Ukrainian national team Illia Zabarnyi commented on the first match of the playoff of the Nations League against the Belgium national team for a place in Division A.
Illia Zabarnyi and Vitalii Mykolenko. Photo: uaf.uaThe Ukrainian national team achieved a comeback victory over Belgium (3:1) in yesterday's Nations League playoff match. According to the fans, the "Lion of the Match" title went to the central defender of the blue-and-yellow team, Illia Zabarnyi (25% of the votes). The author of the third goal against the Belgians shared his impressions of the game.
"I have very pleasant emotions after this match. It’s very nice to score a goal and win. It’s important to give positive emotions to our fans, to our entire country. This is my first "Lion of the Match" award, but I hope it's not the last. I think that all our guys played well enough for this trophy today. Everyone fought and gave their all.
It turned out that, as always, we conceded and started playing for real only after we conceded a goal. This needs to change, I believe. But nonetheless, everyone saw our indomitable character and that we play until the end without stopping. Today was a very important victory against a good opponent. Now we need to recover, prepare for the next match, and achieve the same result.
I certainly remember my goal. There was a corner after which the ball bounced to the right flank. Sashko (Zinchenko. — ed.) delivered a great cross, and I scored,” said Zabarnyi.
Recall that the return match of the Nations League playoff for the right to participate in the next draw in the elite Division A will take place on Sunday, March 23, in Genk. The start of the meeting is at 21:45 Kyiv time.
