Bulgaria captain Kiril Despodov spoke after the 0:5 loss to Northern Ireland, quoted by BTA.
“It is a shame to lose. We did not respond to the aggression and nothing came of what we had planned in advance. I think the first 5-6 minutes of the game Northern Ireland let us play the ball. But after that, they managed to score the first goal, then the second goal, and we went downhill from there.
"I hope this doesn't knock our confidence. Shameful loss, I hope it doesn't kill our confidence", commented Despodov when asked how this match will affect the next two matches in November. Bulgaria first visits Luxembourg on the 15th of next month, and then hosts Belarus.
"We didn't manage to create even one chance to score. There are also such matches. I hope there are two more games. My opinion is that nothing is lost. Until the end, we will play our matches and pray to win," said Despodov.
Experienced Bulgarian midfielder Georgi Kostadinov pointed out many mistakes in the game.
"You can't win if you don't respond to aggression. The loss is shameful, but I hope it will serve as a lesson for us. One can grow from such results, as long as everyone learns a lesson.
When asked where the mistakes and problems of the Bulgarian team were today, he said: "We failed to resist and we were really desperate. We left them a lot of space, we stayed away from the opponents. It had nothing to do with the game from the first game. In principle, you can take something from every match, but today there was no way with such behavior of the team", concluded Kostadinov.
Manager Michael O’Neill admitted that before the game he told his players to make sure that the audience will remember this night for a long time and he was pleased that it happened, BTA reported.
Northern Ireland's young side thrashed Bulgaria 5-0 and the result sent them top of their Nations League group.
Isaac Price was the big hero with a hat-trick, but O'Neill pointed to more brilliant individual performances all over the pitch, not just from the star of the night but from the rest of the squad.
"There are nights when you don't take chances and nights when you do, and we were very precise,” O’Neal said. “But it was more the quality of play and the nature of the whole performance that was most enjoyable.
"He has a really high class," Michael O'Neill finally said to Isaac Price, who was the subject of most of the questions at the press conference. Price joined the likes of legends George Best and David Healy with a hat-trick for Northern Ireland, with the pair scoring against far more modest sides such as Cyprus and Liechtenstein.
"The behavior of the whole team was exceptional! Very important was the reaction after the 0:0 draw with Belarus on Saturday. I'm happy with the intensity, with the fact that they didn't give up for a single minute. Each one was at the peak of their abilities. As a manager, I am satisfied, but also proud of the team.
"One of the things I was concerned about with such a young team is if they can play the second game and how they adapt to play the second game and every response I got tonight was very positive.
He then settled on Brodie Spencer, who had credit for the third goal. Playing from the left, Spencer broke through and fired a shot against the post for the ball to return to Dimitar Mitov's back and make it 3-0 in the Bulgarian net.
"Brody was brilliant! First of all, he did a great job with the most dangerous player of the Bulgarians, Kiril Despodov, and gave us a lot of energy going forward", O’Neill also said.