Albert Riera confessed: “It was a fantastic result!”
In the second week of the UEFA Conference League, Slovenia’s Celje defeated RAMS Başakşehir 5-1 at home. Celje’s head coach, Albert Riera, stated that he believed his team would win, but he did not expect such a significant scoreline.
Speaking at the press conference after the match held at Celje Stadium, Riera was accompanied by his forward, Ivan Brnic. Riera noted that his team played one of the best first halves of his coaching career, saying, “We did not expect this score; our primary goal was to score the first goal. One of my goals was also to avoid conceding, but unfortunately, we did not achieve that. Therefore, I am not completely satisfied because we did not reach our target of not conceding a goal.”
Expressing his happiness, Riera continued, “We remained compact in defense. We performed very well until fatigue set in during the second half. Overall, I can say I am happy with the game. We always work hard; we want to control the ball, and my players are happy about that. I am proud of my players. It was a fantastic result.”
The Spanish coach also talked about their game plan against Başakşehir, stating, “Our plan was to exploit the spaces in the back when they came at us. We knew they came predominantly from one side, so we made them play to the other side. Our aim was to provoke them into coming at us and find gaps behind the defense. Our plan was successful.”
Ivan Brnic expressed his joy at contributing to the team, saying, “Our correct pressing against the opponent resulted in today’s score. There are four matches left, and we want to maintain this momentum and advance to the next round. If given the chance, we would have liked to play another 90 minutes today. Thanks to the tactics our coach gave us, we found a lot of spaces. We were prepared for this.”
