Mixed feelings over draw for Steaua and Basel

If their first goal and first point of the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League provided a cause of celebration for FC Steaua Bucureşti, any joy was tinged with disappointment as the hosts felt they might even have had maximum points against FC Basel 1893 in Group E.

Iasmin Latovlevici regretted the error that brought about Marcelo Díaz's 48th-minute opener for the Swiss champions in Bucharest, but believed the positive climax symbolised by Leandro Tatu's late equaliser will ensure his team are in better shape for the return fixture. For Basel there was also frustration at not seeing the game out, with Yann Sommer blaming a lack of concentration and organisation.

Iasmin Latovlevici, Steaua defender
Basel had plenty of first-half chances and we had some luck when our player got the ball off the line but the game finished 1-1 so, yes, we deserved to get a point. Until the referee blows the final whistle you never give up hope. This is football, anything can happen. We wanted the victory but if that wasn't possible then the next best thing was to draw. Now we want to go to Basel, get a good result and hope to carry on in the competition. If we can win in Basel that would be good, or maybe draw there and beat Schalke at home. We will have to see what happens.

The feeling in the dressing room should be good because we are going well in our championship and we have played a good game, but there was disappointment at the goal we gave away. It was my bad mistake. I tried to find a team-mate with a pass but I struck it poorly. They broke quickly, one shot and it was a goal, a good goal. The fans are very good for us and they are supporting us the best they can. We hope it remains like that.

Alexandru Bourceanu, Steaua midfielder
The coach was happy that we equalised and he wanted us to score another. We had one or two opportunities but we could not quite make it. There is a better feeling now in the dressing room about the future and we hope we can win in Basel but I think it will be very tough.

It was an even match and we played well. We had a lot of opportunities. Sometimes we were not concentrating in front of goal but we never gave up hope. With every minute that passed we hoped to score the equaliser and stay in the competition because we knew that if we lost this match we had no chance of going further in Europe.

Yann Sommer, Basel goalkeeper
We played really well in the first half and also for the first 20 minutes of the second. Then we changed a few players and lost a little bit of concentration. It is hard to answer whether the result was unfair on us. In the last 30 minutes they put us under a lot of pressure and we lost our organisation. We will have to watch the video and see what changes we can make for the next game. Looking back over the three matches so far we cannot be happy where we are. Today we had a lot of chances to score. When you are 1-0 up and you do not get the win, there is always some frustration.

Marcelo Díaz, Basel midfielder
Of course I am very happy to score. It was a good feeling but we are all disappointed because we did not manage to win the game. The feeling of disappointment at not winning is greater than the thrill I got from scoring.