One day before the match of the 3rd round of the group stage of Euro-2025 (U-21) between the national teams of Ukraine and the Netherlands, a pre-match press conference was held with the head coach of the Ukrainian team, Unai Melgosa.
Unai Melgosa— What are your expectations for tomorrow’s match? Do you hope for a draw or will you play for the win?
— I understand that all teams sometimes face such a choice. We will play to win, at least because it is very hard to play for 90 minutes to hold on to a draw. For now, we are thinking more about the game itself, rather than the final result, because if you only have the score in your head, you might miss a lot of important things. We are expecting a good match against such a strong opponent as the Netherlands.
— Do you think your team has a psychological advantage over the Netherlands after two matches, given they are currently in third place?
— Well, I don’t know! Not only I, but all coaches at press conferences answer questions like "What are your expectations?", "What do you think?" or "Better or worse?". But, honestly, these are not real stories, just their imagination. I know only one thing — tomorrow we have to fight, show our best game and be a united team. We want to move forward in this tournament. And tomorrow we will have a good opportunity for that.
— What is the current situation with the Ukrainian national team? Are there any losses, injuries? How is Ilya Krupsky feeling?
— We have a loss, as you know, of Volodymyr Brazhko due to a red card. Almost all other players feel fine at the moment. However, there is a problem with some players who arrived at the national team camp with minor injuries. They need time to recover and are not 100 percent ready.
— Yegor Yarmolyuk is the only player on your team from the English Premier League. What is his mental level and what does he mean for your team?
— Yegor is a very good guy. He listens to our instructions, so we communicate with him well. He is 100 percent open to this. That is the most important thing for me. On the other hand, he is very useful on the field, creates opportunities. He is a player who works hard during the match, he doesn’t slack off. I think it’s very good for us that he is in the team because he can really help. I believe that tomorrow will be a great chance for him and he can do his part on the field.
