Ivan Kalyuzhny: "It's a shame that one episode decided the fate of the match"

The midfielder of "Metalist 1925" Ivan Kalyuzhny commented on the minimal defeat to "Shakhtar" (0:1) and expressed his opinion on the penalty episode:

— The score is 1:0 on the scoreboard. A defeat for "Metalist 1925", but the game was quite good: the team pressed actively. Do you consider the score to be fair, or does it not quite correspond to what was happening on the field?

— It's very difficult to speak after such a match. First of all, I want to thank my team. In such matches, there are many moments, so you need to capitalize on the ones you have. I'm sorry that one episode decided the fate of the game. If you look, we didn't even have a single free kick in the opponent's half — that says something too. But this is football, we will move on.

— Do you agree with the referee's decision regarding the penalty?

— I don't know, there are people to decide that. The referee awarded a penalty. In my opinion, in such matches, it's an exaggeration to give such a penalty. I haven't seen the replay yet, but when he watched VAR, I approached and saw Lassina already lifting his legs and falling. In my opinion, in such a match, it's not a penalty. But there is a referee, and he made that decision.

— After the penalty was scored, the game became more emotional, there was more struggle. What changed after that moment?

— We tried to continue playing our football. After Shakhtar's goal, they moved back more into defense. There was more space, we wanted to equalize. But after that, there weren't as many moments.

— One shot on goal — what is the result of that?

— We need to capitalize more on such situations, as there are prerequisites for that. We need to work harder. I hope that in such matches, we will have more opportunities. We are trying and working, so I think everything will be fine.

— The head coach was already in the locker room. What did he say to the team after the match?

— He thanked us. He said thank you for the dedication. Overall, the game was more or less good. But this is football: today we lost, but we move on. I hope there will be more victories ahead.