COMMENTS. Antwerp is licking its wounds after a pitch-black evening in the Champions League: “We can’t be angry with Toby, of course not”

“I don’t think we started the second half too lax,” says Owen Wijndal. “That first goal was very unfortunate and much too quickly. As a result, we dropped back a little deeper than we should have and Shakhtar really started to come,” said the Dutch left back, who did not look too good at the 2-3. It started when he lost the ball, although the referee could just as easily have intervened for a foul on Wijndal. “Just when the opponent wanted to shoot, I tapped the ball away and it hit me. That seems like a violation, right? Although we shouldn’t end up in that situation,” Wijndal took stock.

Not mad at Butez

Wijndal couldn’t really put his finger on what exactly went wrong after the break. The fact is that the acclaimed defense of the Great Old – barely 4 goals conceded and 6 clean sheets in 9 league matches – was beaten three times in one half. “We are usually in a very good position and hardly give anything away. If you look at the goals, it is all very unfortunate,” Wijndal says that his team had to deal with some bad luck. “You don’t expect us to give it away, but this is a very hard learning process. Jean (Butez, red.), who has saved us so many times and has many clean sheets, was a bit unhappy. That can happen. And Toby… every player who often shoots penalties can miss one every now and then. It’s just a shame that it’s happening just now. Nobody blames him.”

Butez made a mistake. — © Isosport

The disappointment afterwards was great for the home team, but there is not much time to continue to mourn. Eupen comes to the Bosuil on Sunday. “Everyone was quiet in the dressing room, there was hardly any talking. Let us learn the necessary lessons here and quickly turn the switch. We have not won in the competition for a while, so we will go all out for victory on Sunday,” said Wijndal, who does not want to give up hope of European wintering after the heavy blow against Shakhtar. “The group stage is only two matches away and I still have enough confidence that we might still be able to continue in the Champions League. And if that’s not the case, then of course we hope for the Europa League. We are fully committed to that,” Wijndal concludes.

Mandela Keita was self-critical after the turnaround in the Bosuil: “We had full control”

We have not seen much of Antwerp midfielder Mandela Keita as disappointed as he was after the 2-3 defeat against Shakhtar Donetsk. “We owe this to ourselves,” Keita is critical of himself and his teammates. “The second half wasn’t enough. The details are being mercilessly punished at such a high level and we must take steps to address this. But this has really hit hard,” the promising international was extremely disappointed.

The defeat hit Keita hard. — © Isosport

Can Antwerp already cross the line for third place in the group? “We weren’t necessarily hoping for third place. We have come to take it game by game and get the best out of it. Feet on the ground now and on to the next match.”

The equalizer was still in the air, but Toby Alderweireld missed his eleven meter deep in the added time. “Anyone can miss a penalty. Nobody blames him. He knows that too. Anyone who misses such a late penalty is disappointed. But he is professional enough to deal with that. Hopefully we will score the next penalty,” Keita concluded.

Mark van Bommel is disappointed with defeat: “It went completely wrong after the break”

The Dutch T1 of Antwerp also had to swallow famously after the final whistle. “It was a match with two faces,” Van Bommel started his analysis. “We played fantastic before half time, had total control and scored two great goals. Shakhtar had no control over us at all. We knew that Shakhtar was experienced, a good football team. They showed that after halftime. They did nothing different, but we no longer reached our level.”

© Isosport

Van Bommel then let the counter goals pass one by one. “The tying goal came after a situation of poor defending, in which we were unable to clear the ball. Shakhtar then got hope. With Janssen we had a huge chance of making it 3-1. If it had gone in, the match would have been over. One hundred percent sure. But that didn’t happen and then a free kick was deflected and it went in. That’s not possible, but it didn’t go well at all. The third goal was another accumulation of mistakes. Butez wanted to keep the ball in, but then let it lie. It went wrong.”

Antwerp had the ultimate opportunity to divide the points in the end, but Alderweireld missed the eleven meter for 3-3. “We can’t be angry with Toby, of course not,” Van Bommel shrugged. “The equalizer could have provided satisfaction. Toby took responsibility, like Vincent Janssen did earlier against RWDM, but he missed.”

© BELGIUM

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