Portal Eurofootball.com presents the comments of the coaches of the teams that played in the UEFA Champions League yesterday.
Celtic 3-2 Malmo
Ronny Deila, "Celtic": Of course, we are disappointed to have missed a goal in the last seconds of the match. But that's how it goes. We have the advantage of an away goal and in Malmo, they will have to defeat us. In the first half, we played very well, dominated, and scored two great goals. I believe we can score on the road too. We can defeat "Malmo", I have no doubt.
Age Hareide, "Malmo": We started the match tragically and conceded two goals in 10 minutes. However, thanks to the efforts of the players, we managed to get back into the match. As the game progressed, our play improved gradually, as the team worked hard in the field. With the result at 2-1 in favor of "Celtic", we began to take control of the match, as "Celtic" did not have enough stamina for the full 90 minutes. However, we made foolish mistakes that we cannot afford at this level. But now we have good chances to progress further.
Valencia 3-1 Monaco
Nuno Espirito Santo, "Valencia": We played well. We thought long about these matches, so I truly appreciate the efforts of the players, the good result achieved, and the support of the fans. To defeat a team that is more advanced in their season preparations than us, it takes great character and efforts from players. We will travel to Monaco to finish the job. Nothing is decided yet, and we will go there with one goal - to win the match.
Leonardo Jardim, "Monaco": The result is not fair for two reasons. First, we hit the post. If we had scored in that situation, the goal would have changed the rest of the match. Also, we played better at the moments when "Valencia" scored their second and third goals. Conceding such goals is not common for our team and we need to correct that. We will need to score two goals at home, but we still have ambitions to move forward.
Basel 2-2 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Urs Fischer, "Basel": If we have a negative result after the second match, it means we are not worthy of progressing. But what does it matter if you are dominating the match, but end up with only 2-2? "Maccabi" played defensive football, but they attacked only a few times and capitalized on our mistakes. Overall, we defended well against Eran Zahavi, but we made two mistakes and he exploited them.
Slaviša Jokanović, "Maccabi": We did not play very well. However, we worked hard and were rewarded for it. Now we have excellent chances to advance in Tel Aviv. Half of the job is already done. I am convinced that we will have full support at home. We need to play with calm minds and be smart to take the most important step forward.
Rapid 0-1 Shakhtar
Zoran Barisic, "Rapid": The match was tough and intense. We lacked a bit of luck - before conceding the goal, we had a great opportunity to score, with a bit of luck, the ball would have ended up in the net. We saw that we can compete at such a high level. Today we played against a top-class European team, but the match was even. I don't think "Shakhtar" underestimated us, they showed us great respect.
Mircea Lucescu, "Shakhtar": Taras Stepanenko did not feel his hand after an injury in the first half, so he stayed in the hospital. The match itself was very tense and aggressive. In the first half, we were the better team, but we didn't take advantage of several good chances. We wanted to keep the ball as far away from our goal as possible because we knew "Rapid" had a strong attack. They pressed us high and effectively. In the second half, we tried to take fewer risks.
Skenderbeu 1-2 Dinamo Zagreb
Mirel Josa, "Skenderbeu": I cannot say that this is the right result. It was a match where we deserved a draw. In the second half, we played better than in the first, despite scoring in the first half. This result does not give us much hope to reach the group stage, but we will travel to Zagreb to play our game and hope for something special.
Zoran Mamic, "Dinamo": We came to Albania to win the match, and we achieved that. The result looks great, but we still cannot be sure of reaching the group stage. "Skenderbeu" is an aggressive team, they have 3-4 very good players. I have to say, the match changed when Ante Coric entered the field. He played very well.
