In the picture in the middle, the Albanian referee Juxhin Xhaja gives a red card, on the right its recipient and Dnipro player Eduard Sarapij in the fifth minute in the first match of the European Conference League playoffs Source: TASR/Lukáš Grinaj
TRNAVA – The players of Spartak Trnava had a 1:1 draw in the opening match of the European Conference League play-off with Ukrainian SC Dnipro-1.
Coach Michal Gašparík said that his team was scared of the numerical advantage in which they played from the 5th minute, when the defender of the guests Eduard Sarapija received a red card. After the meeting, the coach of Spartak did not hide his disappointment when he said that a similar opportunity can occur once in his career and called the equalizing goal a huge gift offered to the opponent.
The Ukrainian vice-champion entered the first meeting at the Anton Malatinský Stadium with a starting eleven composed entirely of domestic players. After only five minutes of the game, there was a moment that should have greatly helped Spartak. The penetrating Marko Djuricin was pulled down by Eduard Sarapija, who first saw a yellow card from the hands of the head referee Juxin Xhaja.
However, since the Ukrainian stopper committed a foul as the last defending player, after looking at the VAR, the verdict was changed and Sarapija finished the match. At once, the creation remained exclusively with the Trnava team, but their game looked shaky.
We didn’t have the right solutions
“After the red card, the players were scared that we could actually win. The first half was terribly disjointed. We were not in the right position, we didn’t have the right solutions, we played very slowly. Everything was an alibi,” evaluated the first half at the post-match press conference Gašparík.
At the end of the first half, his team worked out a goal in which Djuricin found himself, but the Austrian striker did not beat the nineteen-year-old goalkeeper Jakiv Kinajerkin from close range.
Gašparík made three changes before starting the second half.
He withdrew captain Roman Procházka and Martin Bukat from the central formation, who were replaced by the more offensively creative Azeez Oseni and Samuel Štefánik. Djuricin finished at the point, for whom Milan Ristovski stepped in. He got a good chance after less than three minutes, but he did not take it ideally.
“I knew that the second half would be different. I said on the bench that we are going to play vabank, we want to win so that we have more chances to advance. I wanted to go to play with two strikers, but Djuricin asked down that he could not. We switched three players and we put two typical tens on the field. We got the match where we wanted to be after the red card. We started to play, we combined well and we scored the first goal.” said the coach of Spartak, whose bold move celebrated success and the home team’s game revived significantly.
Photo gallery (10) Goal joy of Spartak footballers Source: TASR/Lukáš Grinaj
In the 55th minute, the Ghanaian winger Kelvin Ofori prevailed in a similar way as in the rematch of the 3rd preliminary round of the EKL against Lech Poznan (3:1), who sent the Slovak representative into the lead. The goal was followed by an onslaught from the home team, who sensed a chance to beat the opponent with a difference of two goals, but without success.
We gave the opponent a huge gift
“The match should have been under our control, but we gave the opponent a huge gift in the form of a broken pass and a penalty. Instead of controlling the match and adding a second, maybe even a third goal, we conceded at 1:1.” remarked Gašparík, whose team conceded in the 67th minute from a penalty kick.
Nineteen-year-old defender Sebastián Kóša unfortunately fouled in the penalty area, and Oleksandr Pichaľonok did not hesitate from the penalty spot. “I teach stoppers not to go to the ground. Nothing happens from there, the goalkeepers solve situations from a much closer distance. Nothing would happen there, he could stand it calmly. I know that the fight was unfortunate, but then he can’t put his foot there and hook ho, because it was a clear penalty,” said Gašparík, who, however, supported the Slovak youth representative with 72 league starts and 12 matches in cup Europe:
“Sometimes we forget his age, because he has been playing with us for a long time. We have the highest expectations for him, and many times even I forget that he is still a young lad. But he has made progress, that is why there is also interest in him, now there are some rumors.”
The home team’s goal at 1:1 took them a little by surprise and it was only the moment from the 89th minute that took them over. The visiting Igor Kogut saw a yellow card for the second time within a quarter of an hour, and Dnipro finished the seven extra minutes with two players less.
It didn’t bring us any effect
According to Gašparík, the end against a determined opponent was difficult, but his team missed the chance to develop an important lead before the rematch: “They were eight in line, which is not easy to overcome. We played handball, it didn’t give us any effect. I’m sad and disappointed because you get a chance like this maybe once in your career and we didn’t take it.
The situations that we did not convert were key. When you’re playing in the playoffs and everything is at stake, you need to be efficient and we weren’t. But it’s only half time, we have to fight and we’ll do everything to try to advance.”
Photo gallery (10) Joyful goal ball of Dnipro players Source: TASR/Lukáš Grinaj
In the final seconds, the Trnava team still had a chance to win for their side, but Erik Daniel failed to score from a small penalty area, and he shot through the goal after a precise cross. The thirty-one-year-old winger poured ashes on his head after the meeting: “I should have scored a goal, there was nothing missing. It was only my fault.”
The Ukrainian vice-champion cannot immediately count on three players from the starting line-up that started in Trnava until next week’s rematch in Košice. In addition to the two expelled (Sarapija, Kogut), one of the important players of the central Polish mosaic, Valentin Rubčinskij, was “carded out”. “It’s a small positive of this unsuccessful evening,” added the 41-year-old helmsman of Trnava.
Revenge is scheduled for Thursday, August 31 at 8:00 p.m. in Košice, which is the temporary home of Dnipro during the war on the territory of Ukraine.
Author: © List VIDEO: TASR/Lukáš Grinaj Source: TASR
2023-08-24 06:45:27
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