Rebrov on Euro 2024 performance: I don’t know why we reacted only after a strong blow to the head

Head coach of the Ukrainian national team Sergey Rebrov appreciated Team performance at the 2024 European Championshipanalyzed the mistakes made by the blue-yellows, and spoke about the conclusions made.

The Ukrainian national team took fourth place in Group E at Euro 2024 and failed to advance to the playoffs. The key defeat was the 0:3 defeat to Romania in the first round. For the first time in the history of the European Championship, a team with four points took the last place in its quartet.

“Euro 2024 is over. We need to analyze everything, prepare and move on. The goal is to get to the World Cup. You don’t need to single out one game at Euro. I told the players: this tournament is very fast, there is no time to warm up, go to the game and see how it goes. We need to play from the first minute. I can’t say that we lost to Romania in all respects. I love statistics and I have statistics for all the leading teams. I can’t say that we played badly, but we lost in some components.”

“We controlled the ball, but unfortunately, and I said this at half-time, we didn’t create chances. That’s a problem. Statistically, we won a lot of balls in the opponent’s half, even more than the top teams, but we didn’t finish the attacks. We didn’t have enough players in the penalty area to finish the attack. We controlled the ball, lost it, won it back, but we didn’t create chances.

We also made stupid mistakes at crucial moments. Players play like that at their clubs. For example, Lunin. Why did he pass the ball to the flag? Because at Real Madrid they always ask him not just to kick the ball out, but to look for a specific recipient. But we are not Real Madrid, sometimes we need to play directly under pressure.

“I was also shocked by the goal conceded from the corner. If you think that we don’t tell the players what to do, then that’s not true. At the Euro, it’s not even the points, but the goals that decide many. And the scores 2:0 and 3:0 are a big difference. We tried to respond with substitutions to refresh the team.

In this match, these mistakes plus the fact that we did not adapt to Romania’s defense, and it played very compactly, played its role. In my opinion, not only in the first match, they did not show their level. Everyone expects footballers playing in top championships to be of the appropriate level, but they did not do it like in the clubs. But I am grateful to all the guys, such a game was needed.

“If you look at the match against Slovakia, I saw that the players acted differently. It was a different team. I can’t say it was a different team. Like in the match against Belgium. I don’t know why we reacted after a hard blow to the head.”

“There was a big response after Romania. I got it and the whole team. Everything was deserved. The players, fortunately, responded. At this Euro, the experience of goals scored is important, not the ones missed. When you lose 0:1, it is important how you react. When Luzhny played. When he was on the field and we missed, we understood that now there would be a different game. Now I don’t see such a leader on the field.”

According to the specialized portal Transfermarkt, the Ukrainian national team is the team with the most expensive rosterwhich was eliminated from Euro 2024 after the first stage. At the same time, the Ukrainian team is the second youngest team at Euro 2024 to be eliminated after the group stage. The average age of the blue-yellows is 26.4 years.

In Group B1 of the 2024/2025 Nations League, Ukraine will play against the national teams of Albania, the Czech Republic and Georgia. The Ukrainian team will play all six matches in this quartet throughout the autumn of 2024.