Apollon head coach Hern\u00e1n Losada expressed his pride in the efforts of his players despite the painful elimination from the UEFA Conference League following the dramatic defeat to Brann.<\/p>\n
The Argentine coach highlighted the team\u2019s performance across the 210 minutes of the two matches, as well as the incredible support from the Apollon fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are the games we love football so much for. There are teams that have lost Champions League titles in the very last second, important tournaments, teams that are five levels above us, and they lost their focus, lost their concentration and lost the tournament. When you are so close to qualifying for the next round, and when I say so close, I mean ten seconds away, of course it hurts three times as much.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the other hand, right now, sitting here in front of you, honestly I have zero regrets about everything the team gave from the beginning until the very end. The players gave everything, they fought for the shirt like nobody else and gave absolutely everything. But because football is such a beautiful sport, things like tonight can still happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is difficult to analyse the game right now, but I believe that in many moments we were much better than the opponent. I also believe that over the 210 minutes of the two games, we were the better team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also want to congratulate my colleagues from Norway. They are going through to the next round and that is what matters. I know that our team did everything we had planned. We attacked with numbers, created situations, had chances to score, and even in extra time we had opportunities to take the game to penalties. For some reason, the coin did not fall on our side today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Losada made special reference to the Apollon supporters who were at ALPHAMEGA Stadium and supported the team until the final whistle.<\/p>\n
\u201cA special chapter is dedicated to our fans who came tonight. Huge respect for the way they supported us until the very end. They even stayed in the stadium after the final whistle to applaud us. That gives me so much hope for everything that is coming in the near future for this club.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have nothing else to say. I am proud of my team, proud of my players and proud of the fan base that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked whether Brann had more energy towards the end of the game, the Apollon coach disagreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I will not use that as an excuse. They did not have more energy than us, and I refuse to agree with that. They simply took better advantage of their moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth teams were tired. There was fatigue and exhaustion on both sides. It was a very long night for both of us. I don’t believe they won because they had more energy. They won because they took better advantage of their chances and scored at the right moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t think they won because they were lucky, but at certain moments luck was on their side. That is part of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Referring to the final stages of the game and the late goal conceded by Apollon, Losada stressed the importance of maintaining concentration until the final whistle.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat should not happen in either stadium. There should also be intelligence and respect when you celebrate in front of the opposing fans, because that can provoke reactions. Of course, I don’t support objects being thrown, but when you are the away team, you also have to respect the fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also didn’t like the reaction of our bench shortly before the end. There were still many minutes to play. The game was not over and I don’t understand what we were celebrating.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to play until the very last second. The referee gave six minutes of added time and you have to play until the end. When you are tired and completely exhausted, it can happen that you concede from a rebound or a second ball. It did not happen in many previous games, but unfortunately it happened in two very important games for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Apollon coach also spoke about the team\u2019s objectives in the league, which begins in two weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal is to be competitive and to compete for the championship, as many other teams will try to do. It would not be fair to say at this stage that our target is first, second or third place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe season starts in two weeks. Teams are still being built, transfers are being made, friendly games are being played and some teams are still involved in European qualification. It is a long competition and it requires consistency.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing I can say is that, based on the way we are playing, what you see on the pitch, what I see on the training ground and in the games against good opponents, I am convinced that we will be competitive until the very end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Losada then explained the substitutions he made, specifically referring to Josef Kvida\u2019s replacement and his decision to bring on Assuncao instead of Angelos Andreou.<\/p>\n
\u201cKvida asked to be substituted because he twisted his ankle. As for Angelos, he was not 100% fit. He felt something during the week and had an overload.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the circumstances, initially I wanted to try to close the game within 90 minutes. Angelos is a much more offensive player. We had done something similar in Norway and it had worked very well. At that moment, however, I chose players who I believed were in better physical condition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the result now, it is easy to start mentioning the players who did not come on. It is not fair and I don’t like it. When you win, the choices are the right ones, and when you lose, we start mentioning the players who were on the bench and did not come on. There is always a better option when you know the result. I would like to hear those recommendations before the game, not afterwards. Afterwards, it is easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI take responsibility for all the changes I made. Everyone who came off the pitch did so for physical reasons. They had run out of energy, had injuries, pain or cramps and had to leave the pitch. Then you make decisions based on the result.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the game changed from winning to losing and then from losing back to winning, it was not easy to make the right decisions. Sometimes they are the right ones and sometimes they are not. But we have good players who can come on and help. Aiwu came on in Norway and was a key player.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t like looking for excuses. I don’t want to say that we lost because of this or because of that. For me, every player is important.\u201d<\/p>\n
In closing, the Argentine coach highlighted the positive elements Apollon should take from the match.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to keep a lot of things from what we did today. A lot, a lot of things.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played 128 minutes, and under normal circumstances you don’t play 128 minutes in a game. Nevertheless, I saw a lot of good things.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want us to keep the vast majority of what we did. We have to work on our concentration in the final stages of games, yes. We also have to work on not conceding four goals at home, yes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe team is not perfect yet. I am responsible for the team and I like the progress we have made since I took over. The season has not even started yet and we are playing like this. I believe we are heading in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Press Office<\/strong> Apollon head coach Hern\u00e1n Losada expressed his pride in the efforts of his players despite the painful elimination from the UEFA Conference League following the dramatic defeat to Brann. The Argentine coach highlighted the team\u2019s performance across the 210 minutes of the two matches, as well as the incredible support from the Apollon fans. \u201cThese<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":113221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[166],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nApollon Limassol<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"