Vitaliy Mykolenko: "The first 10 minutes of our match against Albania were truly perfect"

21.11.2024 11:10

Ukraine defender Vitaliy Mykolenko commented on the matchday 6 match of the UEFA Nations League 2024/2025 group stage against Albania (2:1) and the thousandth day of war with Russian invaders.

"I hadn't been counting the war days until I read this morning that the war has been going on for 1,000 days. It's hard to think that people are living in fear, under bombardment, and our soldiers have been fighting for this long. For me, it's really difficult mentally...

As for the match against Albania, I have mixed emotions because the game was very tough. It was a challenging camp with two away games, but I'm happy because we showed ourselves as a team, earned four points, and finished second in the group. We ended this Nations League cycle well, even though it wasn't perfect. Serhiy Rebrov wished us good luck at our clubs, which we will now focus on. I want to thank our fans who supported us from all over the world. We felt that support and saw the messages. Honestly, we tried very hard until the end and earned those three points.

The first 10 minutes of our match against Albania were truly perfect, but then... The first half, I think, was very good, but in the second, we probably psychologically understood that with a 2:0 lead, we could play simpler. In the end, we could have scored three more goals and closed the game, but it ended the way it did. I think we deserved to win. We could have won by a bigger margin, more calmly, but it turned into a nervous finish. The most important thing is that we scored one more goal."

As a reminder, the Blue and Yellows finished in second place in Group B1. This means that Ukraine will play a playoff against one of the teams that finished third in the League A groups (Scotland, Belgium, Hungary, Serbia) for the right to remain in League A next season. The draw for this stage will occur on November 22, with matches scheduled for March 20 and 23, 2025. Ukraine will begin the tie at home.