“What is your feeling after this draw (1-1 against Atalanta)?
There is a little bitter taste. We are aware of having played the right match against a good team. But matches are decided on the details… We overused the long balls a bit in the first half. I asked them to relax at the break and to trust their teammates. We were a little shy at the start of the meeting. But, even at 1-0, I felt that my players revolted. We rectified the situation and then matched them.
“The team was done at 11 a.m. this Thursday morning”
Mbemba scored a superb goal, but your defense seemed naive on the opening score…
Chancel (Mbemba) had a great match, he is an indisputable starter, who we miss when he is not there. With Mbemba and Balerdi, I’m not saying that we sleep peacefully, but let’s say that we are sure of our defense. Regarding their goal, I just see a small lack of attention. For the rest, they were heroic and Chancel added the equalizer. The shift was made at 11 a.m. this Thursday morning. Chancel has a bad knee, Murillo was uncertain… We didn’t have time to work while the three-man defense is complicity. These are the little details I was talking about…
Everything remains open however…
We’re at half-time, it’s 1-1, we had chances, a bar, a disallowed goal… So that leaves a lot of hope. That’s what I told them in the locker room. A few had their heads down and I told them we were at half-time of this semi-final. We have a week to prepare properly. We know what to do. We tried this (THURSDAY) evening, but we missed the little thing that could make us win 2-1. We know that we will have to put in a great match on a difficult pitch and against a great team. We will have to defend well and better negotiate counter situations. You’ll have to play the perfect match to qualify, it’s worth it. »
