Natalia Zinchenko: "Maybe we were too cautious"

Afterword of the head coach of the women's football club "Kharkiv" Natalia Zinchenko after the completion of the second match in the Champions League against "Backa Topola" (3:2):

- Today we achieved a difficult victory. Why couldn't you secure your advantage in regular time?

- At the end of the match, we wanted to preserve the winning score. The opponent started pushing the ball forward, and we made a mistake. Perhaps we were too cautious. We added a goal after conceding and scored again. Then we made the same mistake again, but managed to snatch the victory for Ukraine, for Kharkiv, for us. Now we are rooting for the "Sisters" - they are leading 2:0, the match is still ongoing. (The Odessa team defeated "Young Boys" with a score of 3:1 - ed.). We need to have three teams in the European Cup and earn points, as we have dropped in the UEFA coefficient table in recent years.

- Did the opponent surprise you in any way?

- All the opponent's players are young. They act very organized. They have a bright future. Many players play for national teams. They were a mystery to us, maybe until the tournament, but then we saw their game live and understood that we wouldn't have an easy walkover.

- How do you overall evaluate the team's performance in the Champions League?

- The match against "Fenerbahce" did not go well in terms of the result. We lacked the character we showed today. We were also leading in the score, but couldn't secure the advantage. Today, there was only one team on the field that wanted to win. In the first game, perhaps fatigue showed signs after the move. We will draw conclusions to have the opportunity to rest. We will focus more on this, plan logistics. This is not an excuse. Circumstances have unfolded this way: we lost on Wednesday, won today, moving on. We are waiting for the draw of the European Cup. Now we are focusing on the championship.