“Today everyone knows how to play football,” the players and coach of Slovan Bratislava agreed after a surprising draw in the opening match of the 1st preliminary round of the Champions League against the Luxembourg champion Swift Hesperange.
The referee was letting it go too much
“Once again, we have convinced ourselves that you will not find an easy opponent at this level. Before the match, we did not know what to expect from the opponent. Today we saw that they know how to play football,” said captain Vladimír Weiss Jr.
In the beginning, he was upset by the opponent’s aggressive play. He communicated with the referees after almost every verdict. This sent the meeting out of control.
“Swift plays very aggressively, maybe too much. From the first minute, there were interventions that the referee could have whistled, but he didn’t. For my taste, he left it too much, it resulted in an overly aggressive game,” Ukrainian referee Viktor Kopievskyi did not like the playboy of the Whites.
Cuck? It happens, it’s part of football
Slovan gave the impression of being nervous or overmotivated. It culminated at the end of the 1st half. Négo Ekofo fouled Juraj Kucka from behind and hit the Slovakian representative. He bit him on the ground. The Frenchman immediately showed the referees the imprint of Kuck’s teeth on the left side of his torso. The 36-year-old seasoned veteran with experience from AC Milan received a red card after reviewing the situation with the VAR system.
How did Weiss Jr. see the incident? “I haven’t seen it on video yet. I saw that the player almost rolled him over and then I don’t know if Kuco bit him or not. In those emotions, in that second when a player is lying on top of you, sometimes it happens, it belongs to football, it’s not the first time. I don’t want to criticize the referee, but the fights were sometimes exaggerated. He let it go from the beginning, and then he can’t be surprised that things like this happen.”
At the top level, there are three known cases of one footballer biting another. Every time, the elite Uruguayan finisher of Liverpool or Barcelona, Luis Suárez, played the main role.
news-item-description">If Slovan Bratislava could rely on anything before the 1st preliminary round of the Champions League against the Luxembourg champion Swift Hesperange, it was the experience of their leaders. Paradoxically, the whites were betrayed by their biggest currency.
The Slav needed to calm down
Slovan’s captain received a yellow card five minutes before Kuck. For repeated protests, he also asked for a second one. He also had a bright moment when he tied the score at 1:1 from a direct kick in the middle of the first half.
“I hit it similarly last year in the league, only from the other side. We have practiced that my players stand next to the wall and block the goalkeeper’s view,” said Weiss Jr.
Slovan collected four yellow cards and one red card in the first half. After changing sides, none. “Maybe we calmed down a little,” said Weiss, looking for the reasons for the unsuccessful start to the season: “Maybe we lacked a little self-confidence on the ball. We were a little nervous. But they pressed well, they finished the fight, and even the fact that the referee let it go a little bit made the situation difficult for us.” He called the draw well-deserved.
He reminded Chovan, then held
Collected cards can make Slovan regret in the next matches. “We were too nervous in the 1st half. We got cards we shouldn’t have. I tried to calm it down because I know what card penalties can bring,” said debutant Milan Borjan.
Already in the 6th minute, he spoiled the play and reminded of the kicks of his predecessor Adrián Chovan. After that, he was more confident and held Slovan with two saves.
“It’s not like it used to be when we had strong and weak teams. Football changes from year to year. Today, everyone can play. The biggest problem was the 1st half, we were too nervous.
I explain it by the fact that it was the first match of the qualification and we know how important it is for the club to advance to the next preliminary round. I’m confident about the team, otherwise I wouldn’t have come here,” said Borjan.
The second leg will be played next Wednesday from 20:00. Swift reaches for the sensation. According to Transfermarkt, the value of his squad is five times lower compared to Slovan. While Slovan is in the 69th place in the UEFA rankings, Swift is only on the 400th. Last year, he won his first title, until Wednesday he had one draw and three losses in European cups with a score of 1:8. If Slovan does not manage the rematch, it will skip the European League and fall into the 2nd preliminary round of the Conference League.
2023-07-13 06:30:00
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