Hindsight haunts eliminated Valencia
Thursday, March 7, 2013
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"We simply didn't turn up in the first leg," Sofiane Feghouli said after Valencia CF fell just short in Paris, though Jérémy Mathieu took comfort in knowing his side "gave everything".
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Midfielder Sofiane Feghouli felt Valencia CF "deserved to win" their round of 16 decider at Paris Saint Germain FC, while defender Jérémy Mathieu said his side left the UEFA Champions League with heads held high after they "gave everything" to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit – though they could only draw 1-1 in Paris. "We simply didn't turn up in the first leg," reflected Feghouli ruefully.
Sofiane Feghouli, Valencia midfielder
I felt we deserved to win the game. We dominated from start to finish. We just didn't get the little break we needed to score the second goal and put more doubt in their minds. PSG deserve to go through overall and I wish them good luck. We simply didn't turn up in the first leg – it was very frustrating. Tonight we believed we could go through. It didn't happen, though, so now we have to concentrate on the league and try to get back into the UEFA Champions League next season.
Jérémy Mathieu, Valencia defender
We're disappointed to be out of the competition, but we gave everything we could in the second leg. We really played to the best of our ability and we were close to going through. Unfortunately, when you concede two goals at home it becomes very difficult. The first leg cost us in the end. We weren't focused enough and didn't defend their counterattacks well enough.
Ezequiel Lavezzi was a handful again because he's fast and intelligent with it. It's good to test yourself against players like that, but I don't think PSG were brilliant tonight. Everything was decided in the first leg.
Aly Cissokho, Valencia defender
We learned our lessons from the first leg when they did a lot of damage on the break. We knew we needed to be more solid as a unit, keep the ball well in midfield and try to create chances. That's what we did, but unfortunately luck wasn't on our side.
At 1-0 we believed in our chances. We saw they were looking worried and didn't seem to know whether to attack or defend. As a team, they don't have a lot of UEFA Champions League experience, but they're individually strong and they held on. It was a good fast-paced match. Congratulations to PSG – they deserve to go through. Regardless of the fact it sent us out, I think a draw was a good result here.
