Following Switzerland’s victory over Albania in Euro 2016, the key figures on show have been having their say on the evening’s action.
Sport360 rounds-up the best of the post-match reaction.
We made the right first step. It wasn’t so easy, we were lucky in the end. But it was a deserved victory.
The first goal was a shock for us. We retreated and speculated too much. The second half was a bit better, but we should improve.
– SWITZERLAND MANAGER VLADIMIR PETKOVIC
Vladimir Petkovic.
I think we made it difficult for ourselves. We could have made it easier for ourselves if we had taken our opportunities earlier. We also have to say a big thank you to Yann [Sommer], because he made one or two really good saves. I think the main thing is that we were able to get the win.
It was a really good start, but afterwards we got a bit too passive. There were also a certain amount of nerves at the end. We definitely wanted to keep a clean sheet and because of that we didn’t take too many risks at the end.
It hasn’t been always easy for me recently, I’ve come in for a lot of criticism and am of course happy that I could help the team in such a way.
– SWITZERLAND GOALSCORER FABIAN SCHAR
It was a fantastic game, I believe we played well, although we were unfortunate to have one of our players (Lorik Cana) sent off. I think we played well and created many chances to score, so we should focus on the positives.
We knew ahead of time that Switzerland are a strong team, a possible contender for the European Championship, so we had predicted that it would be a tough match. They pressured a lot and after the first 15 minutes, we lost our momentum and lost sight of our style of play, so we struggled a bit, as did they.
We have to take more care with the finer details and continue attacking as we did because we had some clear chances to win the match or draw.
– ALBANIAN DEFENDER ELSEID HYSAJ
I would like to say something personal, as after the match against Ukraine it was a bit tough for me to come back. But with the help of the coach and my teammates I think I played well and had a relatively good game today.
I think we fought right to the very end, and for about 60 minutes we were playing with 10 men. I think this was what we expected, we fought hard for the whole game, we didn’t give them many chances.
We will fight right to the very end, we will do our best right the way through, because that’s why we came here, to show our values and to defend our colours.
– ALBANIAN MIDFIELDER ANSI AGOLLI
Ansi Agolli.
