Russia rue wasted chances
Saturday, June 16, 2012
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A "very emotional" Vyacheslav Malafeev set the tone in the Russia camp following their exit, though he felt his side "probably deserved more" than the loss to Greece that ended their bid.
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There was palpable disbelief in the Russia camp following the 1-0 loss to Greece in Warsaw that ended their hopes at UEFA EURO 2012. Goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev was particularly distraught as he reflected on the "bad moment" of Giorgos Karagounis's first-half strike, while Denis Glushakov blamed bad luck for the side's elimination.
Vyacheslav Malafeev, Russia goalkeeper
I am feeling very emotional, and it's hard to talk about it in objective way right now. I can start by saying I'm not satisfied with the result. We didn't do enough to get the victory, despite the fact that we probably deserved more as we played better than them. I feel disappointed too, because it was down to us and we ruined our own chance of progressing.
I don't want to talk about their goal. Everyone saw what happened. It was a bad moment and the atmosphere was unpleasant going back to the dressing room, but we had an entire half to turn things around. We tried, but unfortunately we couldn't manage it.
Denis Glushakov, Russia midfielder
My [tournament] debut didn't go well. Our team didn't win and we are out. Of course, we played very well in the first match and we were euphoric afterwards. And then we had some bad luck – against Poland and, I think, here. We didn't think we were going to lose. Nobody in the team even thought about it. We all thought we were going to win. We knew it would be tough playing against the Greeks, but the score is on the board.
