Prandelli relieved with late point
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Article summary
Galatsaray AŞ coach Cesare Prandelli labelled the 1-1 draw with RSC Anderlecht "almost like a win" after a last-minute equaliser Besnik Hasi called a disappointment.
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• Galatasaray coach Cesare Prandelli says 1-1 draw "like a win" after late equaliser
• Anderlecht boss Besnik Hasi pleased with performance after earning point
• Home defender Aurélien Chedjou still hoping to advance despite dropped points
Cesare Prandelli, Galatasaray coach
We played against a young, interesting team with a high level of technique and lots of movement. By ending the game in the way we did, it is almost like a win. We conceded the goal in a period when we were at our best. We need to be better organised. We need to fix our little mistakes and we'll be a better team.
[Goran] Pandev, [Blerim] Dzemaili and Tarık [Çamdal] joined us almost ten days ago. They still need some time. We couldn't find space between the Anderlecht lines; we struggled in this regard. I always encourage my players to shoot. We need to try this more by finding better angles. I'm happy with the performance of all of my players. I won't name any because I don't want to be disrespectful to the others. I liked the character of my players.
Besnik Hasi, Anderlecht coach
Above all, I'm happy. We set up our defence a bit deeper tonight and let Galatasaray build up the play. We had possession. When we had the ball, we were fast and showed skill. We should have been better at applying the finishing touch and this is a disappointment because it affected the result.
[Bram] Nuytinck injured a toe. We don't know yet if it's broken or not. If I had had the chance to make a fourth substitution tonight, I would have loved to. We weren't as comfortable in the second half as we were in the first. We needed to leave a lone striker and use the flanks more, but we couldn't do that. [Matías] Suárez couldn't show the defensive attributes that we expected of him and he did not press. This had an influence on the result.
Hats off to our goalkeeper, [Davy] Roef. Everybody in the dressing room clapped him. Think of it this way: you are 20 and you make a solid start to your career in the Champions League. This is very important. He still has things to learn, such as being more confident. Sometimes we criticise him for being cool, but tonight it was important for him to be cool in such an intense atmosphere. He made some key saves in the latter part of the game.
We studied Galatasaray well. We try to play fast and we don't defend much. There are not many defenders in our team. We did tonight what we always try to do. Galatasaray are at the beginning of their league season, they haven't played many games and they have a new coach. Maybe they need some time.
I would like to remind you that we are one of the youngest teams in the Champions League. This group has room for improvement.
Aurélien Chedjou, Galatasaray defender
That is not a good result for us because we have fallen behind against a good team, an agile and mobile team who posed so many problems for us. Now we have to regroup and get points quickly to advance to the next round.
The team was happy because a defeat at home is never good. And scoring in the last minute, I think the team was happy but the coach is not satisfied and similarly, I am not satisfied. It is, of course, much better than no points but much worse than three.
The objective is still advancing, but we were sure that we would win and unfortunately now we have seen that Anderlecht is not an easy team. We know that the favourite teams are Arsenal and Dortmund. But last year we have seen in the last match against Juventus, nothing is lost. Now we have to mobilise, believe in ourselves and work hard the same way.
Davy Roef, Anderlecht goalkeeper
I think I played a good game. [I made] two saves early in the second half. I prepared normally, just like I prepare for a league or cup game. Of course the last-minute goal is a disappointment. The players in the changing room were disappointed. But I think 1-1 at Galatasaray is still a good result. I think we can beat Galatasaray maybe for third place. We can beat them at home.