Yurii Vernydub: The team did not have enough experience to overcome this opponent

After the second match of the third qualifying round of the Europa League 2024\25 against the Czech "Viktoria" Plzeň - 0:1, the head coach of Kryvyi Rih "Kryvbas" Yuriy Vernydub commented on the game at a press conference.

- I want to congratulate the "Viktoria" team on reaching the playoffs of the Europa League. I wish them to pass Hearts and a long tournament journey in this tournament. "Kryvbas" will play in the Conference League playoffs. Another powerful opponent is waiting for us - the Spanish "Betis". For us it is a school. Victoria won both matches thanks to its experience in European tournaments. The rival was also stronger than us in anthropometry. Although as for the game itself, we also had some good moments, but we didn't use them.

- What was missing today for success?

- Many factors. This is also a lack of experience, because we are only taking the first steps in European tournaments. "Victoria" has much more experience. Secondly, logistics. It is much easier for the opponent to move. "Kryvbas" cannot play at home, but abroad. Our home stadium is in Kosice. You understand, we play in Slovakia, then we return to Ukraine by bus.

We spend a lot of time at the border. We play in Ukraine, and then again abroad. Somewhere our players are lacking in this regard. There is no freshness that our rivals have. Somewhere we do not have time to recover physically. I think this is the most important thing. In general, "Viktoria" is a good opponent, but "Kryvbas" also looked decent. The only thing is that they won twice, and we lost twice. After the first meeting: we should not have conceded in Košice, but it happened. Once again, I congratulate the opponent on the victory.

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