Željezničar make chances count at Plzeň

FK Željezničar coach Amar Osim kept a lid on his emotions after his side performed heroically in a 4-3 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round first-leg loss at FC Viktoria Plzeň, downplaying the Bosnian and Herzegovinian title holders' hopes of completing an upset.

"Our chances of progressing are higher than they were before the match," said the 45-year-old, son of former Yugoslavia coach Ivica Osim. "They were at about 3% – now I would say they are around 6%. Our fans might not agree, but I still consider Plzeň to be clear favourites."

Adnan Hadžić performed brilliantly between the posts for the Railwaymen, while Tomislav Tomić, Vernes Selimović and Sead Bučan exploited some shaky Plzeň defending ruthlessly – tellingly Plzeň had 12 shots on target to Željezničar's three and led the corner count 16-1.

"We are happy with the result as we scored three times – I do not know of any game in which Plzeň conceded so many goals recently," said Osim. "But they scored four. It is a lot, and we must not forget that they had a lot of chances in the first half. We accept the result and we are happy that we have kept our chances alive."

Both teams went to celebrate the result with their supporters at full time, but Czech champions Plzeň were a little nonplussed once the adrenaline wore off. "If it had been a league game, I would have said it was a marvellous match," explained coach Pavel Vrba. "But in a two-legged tie, we should have played differently at the back and should not have allowed them to score three goals. Our shabby defending helped Željezničar to be so effective."

Plzeň captain Pavel Horváth, 38, added: "We were the better side in both halves, but our opponents were tremendously efficient. Still, we managed to win, which shows our great strength. I hope they have used up all their goalscoring luck. They will have to go forward in the second leg and we will play on the counterattack. We have better players than them. I believe we will go through."