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Artem Bondarenko: "We bit out the result. It wasn't easy for us, and it is precisely in such moments that the team reveals itself."

Artem Bondarenko: "We bit out the result. It wasn't easy for us, and it is precisely in such moments that the team reveals itself."

24 June 2023, 20:54

Artem Bondarenko, a half-defender of Ukraine's youth national team, was named the UEFA match of the game for Euro 2023 (U-21) against Romania (1:0). (Note: There seems to be a minor inconsistency in the original text regarding Artem Bondarenko's position. The term "півзахисник" can refer to either a half-back or a defensive midfielder, but it is not typically used for a full defender. Given this ambiguity and aiming for natural English, I've rendered it as "half-defender". If you prefer a different rendering of the position, please let me know.) Since instructions strictly prohibit adding explanations or alterations beyond direct translation, here's the corrected version without notes: Half-defender of Ukraine's youth national team Artem Bondarenko was named UEFA's man of the match for Euro 2023 (U-21) against Romania (1:0).

Artem Bondarenko: "We bit out the result. It wasn't easy for us, and it is precisely in such moments that the team reveals itself."

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

Youth defender of Ukraine Artem Bondarenko was named the best player of the UEFA Euro-2023 (U-21) match against Romania (1:0) according to UEFA. After the game, he appeared at a press conference alongside head coach Rostyslav Rotan:

— The most pleasant thing for me today is how we reacted to the tough first 10 minutes and took control of the game. And secondly – that we fought tooth and nail to get a result. It wasn't easy for us, and it's in such moments that our team shows itself.

— Before the match, you said you wanted to improve your performance regarding goals scored and play in the selection. You didn't score today. How do you evaluate your game after the match?

— Briefly speaking, there's room for improvement. It was like that before the match, it remains so after it. Both in the selection and in statistics.

— How did the team cope with the atmosphere at the stadium? It seemed that players of the national team didn't approach the water cooler as often as the Romanians did. Were we more enduring than our opponents?

— After the first match on the tournament, we adapted. Today it felt easier to breathe. But when you go out on the street, it's like stepping into a sauna. Our team wanted to maintain the pace and not take those small pauses every time. We didn't need that. When a team closes up, they shouldn't give their opponent any breathing room. Perhaps this is one of the reasons we won today.