S. Vrevenas: "Nothing is finished yet"

2024-08-07 17:40 © FK Panevėžys

“Panevėžys” football club played two different halves on Tuesday at the LFF stadium and recovered in the first leg of the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League against Tel Aviv's “Maccabi”. The first encounter between the Lithuanian and Israeli champions ended with a victory for the visitors, with a score of 2:1.

The coach of the Šiauliai city team, Stijn Vreven, reviewed the game and was not satisfied with the two such different halves, but added that everything is not yet finished in this tie.

The return match will take place on August 15, Thursday, in the Hungarian city of Sombathely.

“The match was two-fold. Of course, the start of the game was dramatic, we were down 0:2 after 9 minutes. We did something wrong, we weren't prepared to play against this opponent at this level, we conceded goals very easily. I tell this to the players, I will say it now as well. I always take responsibility for what happens in the matches, but even if the tactics were so poor, we cannot concede two goals in 9 minutes. That is too simple, especially when the energy level is high. We could defend better; the desire, heart, and passion can be at the highest level. If you concede two goals in 9 minutes, it's hard to come back into the game, because confidence drops – that's what you saw in the first half.

We didn't trust ourselves with the ball, we kicked it forward, we lost the ball too easily when we regained possession. The first half was very difficult. The second half was completely different; sometimes it's strange when you have nothing to lose, then you have confidence with the ball, you can create chances playing against a good team, which is what we did. We played a good second half tactically, as well as with the ball, creating several opportunities, and the “Maccabi” players were getting more and more tired.

We controlled the second half; the players who came in after substitutions brought more energy with the ball, as well as quality. We scored a beautiful goal; at the end, we could have equalized at 2:2, but Vytautas Černiauskas also saved a hundred percent chance. The second half was significantly better; we are still in the game; nothing is finished yet. Away goals no longer count; we must believe in our chances, why can't we score there? We have the confidence that we can move forward. It will be hard to do so against a good team, but we believe we have a chance to reach the next round,” –  fk-panevezys.lt reported S. Vreven.

“Panevėžys” will play their next match on Sunday, August 11. The “TOPsport A League” match of the 25th round against Vilnius “Žalgiris” will kick off at 18:25 at the “Šiauliai” stadium.