De Boer takes pride in Ajax resilience
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
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Frank de Boer was delighted AFC Ajax side survived an "all or nothing" Olympique Lyonnais charge and remained on course to finish second in Group D at their opponents' expense.
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Rémi Garde, Lyon coach
We came up against a strong Ajax team. They are very good on the ball and it was hard to break them down on the counterattack. In order to get possession we had to work very hard. This made it difficult to make the right choices when we had the ball. We put them under a lot of pressure at the end and created chances but failed to finish them off. While we are not mathematically out we believe we can qualify. It will be tough, but we can do it.
Obviously we are disappointed not to have taken the three points after the amount we threatened Ajax. Although we performed well and did not concede, we failed to score. Now, our two heavy losses to Madrid mean that goal difference is a problem. I'd have liked to see us play the first half the way we did the second. We managed to push them back further and further, and injected more pace into our moves. We made people believe we could win and created a lot of chances too. I have told the players not to have any regrets. They did their best and some of them gave everything they had. We will take heart from tonight's performance and move on to the next challenge.
Frank de Boer, Ajax coach
I am satisfied with both the result and the performance. We played very well for long periods. We tried to play good football and I think we had more possession in the first half. This proves we took the initiative from the start. In the final ten minutes Lyon went 'all or nothing'. When a side does that, you know they will create some chances. Luckily for us Kenneth Vermeer made two fine saves late on but we also had chances to score ourselves.
I am not surprised at how well we played because I know how good my team is. Sometimes you need some luck too. If we play as a team, and with determination like we did today, then we are capable of these performances all the time. I am proud of my players. Lyon have qualified for the next stage on a number of occasions so getting a draw was a good achievement, just like it was in the home match.
