The defender of Zhytomyr’s Polesie Bohdan Mykhailichenko commented on his team’s victory over the Hungarian “Paks” (3:0) in the first match of the 3rd qualifying round of the Conference League.
“We had a very good game, analyzing a very strong opponent. I want to say a big thank you to the coaching staff, who advised us on how to play correctly.
Yes, of course, when we were winning 3:0, we started thinking about playing the score. It was a bit nerve-wracking at the end of the match.
We knew that “Paks” is a strong team that plays physically, and there will be a lot of fighting. Of course, we couldn’t win all the aerial duels. Because of this, when we lost them, they picked up the ball, and then there were some moments near our goal.
We have another game with “Paks” and we will now prepare very seriously for the return match, so there is still a lot of time before “Fiorentina” (Polesie will play with this team in the next round if they get past “Paks”, editor’s note).
Yes, of course, they were the strongest opponent among all possible ones, and it’s very difficult to play against them, but it’s a dream to play against such a team, in such an atmosphere in Italy. I don’t think any of the Polesie players have played against such a team,” Mykhailichenko said.