Sergey Labodovskiy: “Down to Ten Men, We Focused Only on Equalising”

“Unfortunately, two key midfielders were suspended due to yellow card accumulation from the previous stage in the Netherlands. In addition, some players had minor knocks after the first match.

Nevertheless, I believe we were well prepared for the game. We studied the opponent carefully and chose a fairly bold game plan, which, as the match showed, worked well. For the first 30 minutes, I think we were fully in control – we played the way we wanted, not the way the opponent wanted.

Unfortunately, one wrong decision left us down to ten men. In the last minute of the first half, we conceded from a set piece. We were just a little short of holding on until the break to make the right adjustments.

In the second half, we reorganised and continued to play with ten men, but remained aggressive. The players really wanted to get back into the game, everyone gave their all and put in a huge amount of work. However, towards the end we ran out of energy, and the opponent took advantage – two counter-attacks made it 3–0.

I would like to thank the players for never stopping. Even with ten men, their only focus was on getting back into the game, not on protecting the lead.

We are all disappointed with the result because our expectations were different. I believe we were capable of more. We were just a bit unlucky today. Unfortunately, the score is what it is.

We will now focus on the final match. Every game is important – we represent our country, so we will not give up. We will give everything in the last match and try to make our fans happy with a positive result.”