Valdas Dambrauskas: "Tactically, it was a very interesting match"

"Sabah" faced "Levski" away in the first leg of the UEFA Europa Conference League third qualifying round and lost 0:2. After the game, our head coach Valdas Dambrauskas shared his thoughts:

"I think it was a very interesting game from a tactical point of view. We came into this match with a clear plan. Despite the defeat, I can only praise my players today. I’m proud of them.

I believe we competed well against Levski for a long period. They are a strong team, but in the first half there were moments when we had more control, and I felt that if we had been just a bit calmer, we could have achieved a better result.

In the second half, of course, we expected their head coach to come up with a solution to our pressing and try to bypass it – and that’s exactly what happened. Especially around the 60th to 68th minute, Everton played deeper and created a numerical advantage in that zone. At that moment, we lost a bit of our compactness, and Levski gained the upper hand.

However, after that, we also found our own solutions, and I think the game remained evenly balanced. And of course, the atmosphere in the stadium – it was incredible today – played a big role. It was a huge advantage for the home team. I believe if that atmosphere hadn’t been there, the result might have been different.

We had two very good chances to score in the second half. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take them. But this was just the first leg. 90 minutes are behind us, and now we’ll host Levski next week in Baku."

The return leg between "Sabah" and "Levski" will be played on August 14 at 20:00 at Bank Respublika Arena.