Head coach of the Ukrainian U-21 national team Unai Melgosa commented on the loss to the Danish U-21 national team (2:3) in yesterday’s match of the first round of the Euro-2025 (U-21) group stage.
Unai Melgosa— We played well in the first half, the team was cohesive and compact, which resulted in a scored goal. After the break, the Danes started to play better, but in any case, we also had many chances to score. However, we lost a bit of our game rhythm, lost the initiative, and allowed our opponents to get back into the game. Unfortunately, we conceded very quickly after the score became 2:1. Our opponent got a bit lucky here, as there was a deflection. Of course, I am disappointed with the final result, as we didn’t deserve to lose.
— Perhaps you were a bit tired, both physically and mentally, at the end?
— I don’t think the team gave up. The players definitely felt fatigue, as it’s the end of the season, and we understand that. But they tried to play for the win, and at the end of the match, they had the opportunity to equalize. Both the footballers and I wanted to win this match.
— Did you expect there to be as many as five goals and such an open game in the match?
— Of course, you can’t expect that. I want our team to score as much as possible and concede as little as possible. But it happened as it happened. We will analyze all of this in the coming days.
