Unirea aggrieved at Anfield slip

FC Unirea Urziceni defender Bruno Fernandes said it was a measure of how far his team had come that they would return home to Romania disappointed after their narrow 1-0 defeat at Liverpool FC.

The Romanian titleholders frustrated Liverpool for 81 minutes of the teams' round of 32 first-leg tie at Anfield before succumbing to a David Ngog header – an admirable effort from a side making their first competitive outing since mid-December. Fernandes told UEFA.com: "If you'd told me it would be only 1-0 here against Liverpool, I'd say it was a good result, but after what I saw and what our team produced in terms of defensive work and sacrifice, 0-0 would be a good result so I am disappointed.

"We've had two months' vacation and just a month with some friendly matches but none of them can compare to a match at this level so it was a little difficult for us," he added. "In the beginning, when we came into the game, we saw how difficult it was but I guess overall we did pretty well. I was surprised by the rhythm we were able to sustain – I didn't expect us to be as good as we were physically. But the way we closed the spaces and didn't let Liverpool play inside as they like and forced them wide is normal for us. We worked very hard on that aspect."

Unirea had never competed in Europe before last term but entered the UEFA Europa League after a creditable third-placed finish in their first UEFA Champions League group stage campaign. Fernandes said the European novices had benefited from that experience: "The six games we had in the Champions League gave us a taste of football at the highest level. It was very good for us, meaning we came into this game with confidence and have hope that we can maybe win in Bucharest and go through to the next round."

The Guinea-Bissau centre-back helped form a wall of white shirts in front of the visitors' goal that was ten players deep for much of the contest. He admitted Roni Levi's team would have to take a more positive approach in the return, saying:"We have to go forward because we need to score to equalise and maybe Liverpool will wait a little bit and not go forward so much like they did here." Midfielder Sorin Paraschiv, who worked tirelessly in front of his back four, concurred: "I don't think we'll defend in Bucharest, not with the crowd behind us, pushing us on. We'll aim to do more there."

Unirea beat Sevilla FC in their last European home outing but Paraschiv believes bettering Liverpool represents a tougher task. "At home we have played very well in Europe," he said. "We beat Sevilla so perhaps we can do the same against Liverpool, although I think Liverpool right now are stronger than Sevilla. I don't know what will happen in Bucharest but Liverpool are a strong team and when you make a mistake they punish you."