The head coach of Zhytomyr’s “Polissya,” Ruslan Rotan, commented on his team’s defeat against Andorra’s “Santa Coloma” (1:2) in the first match of the 2nd qualifying round of the Conference League.
“A hundred percent, a painful defeat. The only thing I didn’t understand is why, when we took the lead, we became a completely different team. This is probably the biggest mystery at the moment. We allowed the opponent to calmly play the ball, to start attacks freely, and we gave them too much time. Until the end of the first half, I didn’t even recognize my team.
After the break, we became a bit more active, we were livelier. But, to be honest, we just failed about twenty minutes of the first half (it was during this stretch of the match that “Polissya” conceded both goals, — ed. note). Now we will review the match and definitely analyze it. The first thing I want to say — I’ve already mentioned this to the guys: when you go out on the pitch, especially for a European Cup match, you have to be hungry, angry — first and foremost. Everything else will follow.
Our start was aggressive: we pressed, scored a goal. But then... It seems that after scoring, we somehow switched roles with the opponent — it shouldn’t be like that. Especially since this is a two-leg confrontation, and we just made our task more difficult. I am convinced that in a week we must be a completely different team — first and foremost, hungry for victories and goals, confident. There can’t be any other comments — we must correct ourselves.
The play of “Santa Coloma” was by no means surprising. I’ve already said: this is quite a good team that plays well with the ball. If you give them time — they will use that time wisely. In fact, that’s exactly what happened. Especially after we conceded the first, absolutely unnecessary goal. And then there was some sort of stupor — we stopped being the team that aims to move to the next round.
This confrontation can still be saved, that’s a hundred percent — there isn’t even a discussion about that. We have two halves left, and we must be a completely different team in a week. I’ve already repeated: in Andorra, we have to come out hungry, with the right mindset. If we change our mentality, have a sincere desire to win, to score — the way we had in the first 15-20 minutes of today’s match — then I’m convinced that everything will be fine,” said Rotan.