The head coach of Cherno More (Varna) Ilian Iliev said that he tried to scout the opponent from Basaksehir as much as possible, and also to prepare his team, but in the end the classier selection of the guests left Razgrad with a 1:0 victory, BTA reported.
The second leg is next Thursday (July 31) at the Fatih Terim Stadium near the Bosphorus, but Iliev believes that they will also look for a good result on the away leg. The first match today was played in Razgrad, since the Ticha Stadium in Varna - the home of Cherno More - does not meet UEFA requirements.
"First of all, I want to thank all the people who took the time and supported us. A good atmosphere was created with the efforts of the players, as well as the fans who support us. I think we had prepared the team well for the match. As we said, they started training later, we also knew that in the last minutes they would be physically eliminated. We wanted to bring the match to a draw so that we could press, because it was also clear that we were sitting better physically at the end. Unfortunately, their goal was due to an oversight".
"But overall, it is commendable for the efforts of the players to fulfill what we wanted from them. Maybe we needed more courage in some situations in attack, or more precisely self-confidence. Because in the last 20 minutes of the second half in their penalty area, we had situations that with a little more self-confidence – as their player did in the 49th minute for the goal, someone to take the ball and direct it, there could have been a different result. But I am pleased with the efforts of the players, commendable. But as they say, we lost the first battle, but now we have a second match in Istanbul. I all basically think that after this result, Basaksehir are favorites, but it is possible. And we showed that we have arguments and believe that we can go there and achieve a good result, "said the coach of Varna.
Was there any concern and tension, Iliev answered: "That's exactly what I said. We lacked a little more courage, not to be so respected. We know that the opponents have good players, but in the last minutes we showed that we can oppose them and put them under pressure".
This summer in the Black Sea, the squad was fundamentally renewed, with eight new players. How has this renewal affected and how close it is to the face that the coach wants to see in general. "From the first two matches, no general conclusions can be drawn, but I think the new players are adapting well, on time. Yes, they will need time to further adapt to our style of play. But considering that we have been working for a month and a half, at this stage it is good. I say it again - today we lacked a little more class, self-confidence, self-confidence and maybe a little more respect for the opponent. In this situation, in which they scored a goal against us, we should have been a little more collected, to wait for the moments that appeared at the end of the match".
"There were many positive moments in general today. First of all, many people came from Varna and this is a reward for the efforts of the team and the entire club. We thank them, because no matter how close the distance between Varna and Razgrad is, today is still a working day. And we probably had 3-4 thousand people. I am sorry that we were not able to provide them with a good result. But from a desire perspective, we have given them hope that they can come to Istanbul and hope that something good will happen," concluded Ilian Iliev.