The head coach of Black Sea ( Varna) Ilian Iliev left Razgrad with mixed feelings. He admitted that in other years a goalless draw would have been considered a success, but now he has something to regret.
"Now it is not important to determine exactly what we regret. The important thing is that we had a game plan, as they say. We wanted to take into account the fact that Ludogorets play in 3-4 days of matches, we wanted to keep the match not decided as it was. And when the moment came, as it did, to take the risk and score. I didn't like that we didn't take enough chances to win. Against a team that has good players and presence on the field, I think the boys put in their efforts. but I say again, I needed more courage, especially when we are with one person more", began the coach.
"Confidence - that's what we lacked, as Ludogorets we know that in order to press them high, we also need to worry them and push them towards the four defenders. In many moments we were not able to finish the attack. You saw in the last seconds we had three people on the small penalty, and Pacheco preferred to finish alone. But these are football things we cannot predict. In other years, a point here would have been a success, but now you see it, we accept that we could have done something more. But as they play in 3-4 days of matches, we expected Ludogorets to experience physical difficulties and we tried to use him, but we didn't succeed.
Now the championships in Europe and South America stop because of the matches of the national teams, and for nearly 10 months the former midfielder combines the work both at the club level and in the representative team. On the question of what will happen in the Black Sea in his absence, he said: "I hope my absence will not be felt in the Black Sea, as in the previous cases it was not felt and Vesko Branimirov did well. The bad thing is that we don't have controls, because in the Second League they have a championship, but we will try to physically load ourselves with training.
"The important thing is to show self-confidence. The coach of Belarus has called many people from Dynamo (Minsk). We saw them against Ludogorets - aggressive people. Gone are the days when we won matches against Belarus just because we are Bulgaria. We want to win the group,”, said Iliev on the occasion of the first of Bulgaria's two upcoming matches in the League of Nations against Belarus.
The head coach of Ludogorets (Razgrad) Zahari Sirakov stated that his team was better against the Black Sea and even with 10 men, they continued to look for the victory.
"We didn't get a goal to win. I think we played a perfect first half where we created a lot of chances but unfortunately we couldn't convert them. We also started the second half very well, but after the red card it became difficult for our team. We played to win until the end. And that's how the changes were dictated, even though we stayed with 10 people, we let in offensive players. We played until the end to win the game. It didn't work out, but I congratulated the boys for giving themselves away today. there are also such matches. I said already – we created a lot of chances, but unfortunately we didn't manage to convert", said the acting coach of the champions after the departure of Georgi Dermendzhiev.
"Given the break, I'm letting the boys rest a bit now because they've had a lot of games. But I congratulated them because despite the fatigue – physical and mental that they felt towards the end of the match, they played until the end. And that can't help but make me happy. And it is gratifying that even with 10 people, we are trying to win".
In the Europa League, the people of Razgrad have already learned the opponents and the program. "The boys deserved these matches, because it is clear that there are no weak opponents. It is gratifying that in the first game we are here as hosts. I hope we start with success and this will bring us additional self-confidence.
When asked whether incoming and outgoing market actions can be expected in the last days of the transfer period, Sirakov replied that only the management can answer this question.