Apollon coach Hernán Lozada spoke following the team’s elimination in extra time by Brașov in the third qualifying round of the Conference League.
The Argentine coach emphasized that his team was unlucky, despite the great effort they put in. At the same time, he expressed pride in his players and said they must hold their heads high.
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Speaking on behalf of the players, Giorgos Malekkidis expressed his disappointment but sent a message of regrouping ahead of the league season.
Here is what he said in detail
Ernán Lozada: “This is what reminds us why we love this sport so much, especially for games like tonight’s. So when you’re so close to advancing to the next round—and when I say so close, I mean just ten seconds away—of course it hurts three times as much. On the other hand, right now I’m sitting here in front of you and, honestly, I have absolutely no regrets. None. For everything the team gave from start to finish. We gave it our all like no one else, we gave everything we had, and because soccer is such a beautiful sport, things like tonight can happen. It’s hard to break down the game, but I believe that in many aspects we were far better than our opponent. I also believe that over the course of the full 210 minutes, we were the better team. But I also want to congratulate our colleagues from Norway. Congratulations—you’re moving on to the next round. Whether you deserve it or not doesn’t matter. All I know is that our team did everything we had planned. We attacked with many players, created chances, had opportunities to score, and even in the second period of extra time, we had chances to force the game into a penalty shootout. For some reason, though, luck wasn’t on our side tonight.
To the fans: “Our fans who came out tonight deserve a special mention. I have enormous respect for the way they supported us right up until the very last second. They even stayed in the stadium after the final whistle to applaud us. That gave me a great deal of hope for everything that lies ahead in the immediate future for this club. I’m proud of my players and proud of our fans. Keep your heads up, try to get some rest, recharge your batteries, and try to put this game behind you as soon as possible.”
On the goal in the 90+6th minute: “No, no, there are no excuses. They didn’t have more energy than us. No, I refuse to agree with that. They simply made better use of their chances. We also made an extra substitution in the second half of extra time, bringing on Duto Kinton, and we had players on the field who were very tired. The same was true for them. Many of the substitutions we made were forced because some players couldn’t continue, but the same thing happened to them. I think both teams were fatigued and exhausted. It was a very long and difficult night for both sides. So I don’t think they won tonight because they had more energy. I believe they won because they capitalized on their chances and scored at the right moment. And I also feel that they didn’t win because they were lucky, but at certain moments, luck was on their side. And that’s part of the game.”
Giorgos Malekkidis: “You need to have those little details on your side when facing a good team. We fought hard but didn’t make it. We’re moving on; the league is starting, and this team will do its best. The fans were amazing—they were right there with us. We gave it our all, we did everything we could, but we were eliminated. We’re disappointed; for us, this is a tough elimination—only the result counts, not the effort. We have to be ready to compete for the best we can. The goal is to compete for titles; we’ll take it one game at a time.”
