Coach Ndubuisi Emmanuel Egbo has expressed his satisfaction with what his team, KF Tirana gave on the field, after their 1-0 loss to Red Star Belgrade ended the Albanians’ Champions League hopes.
Egbo is the first African coach to take a European football side to domestic league victory and had hoped to take his team further in the Champions League. The former goalkeeper rued the missed opportunity represented by the single goal difference but said he was proud of his players.
“We had so many players, so many opportunities to make changes. We had nothing to do. That much we could give inside the field. New players we did not have the opportunity to join the team. The team needs players.
The team has gained extremely high confidence. Has created a winning personality and mentality. We tried until the last moment to change fate. I am proud of what the players have given, to change the score.
Missed cases – We are people, we are upset. Something normal. I told the boys not to get upset. Thus God has decreed that it will happen. I’m not upset at all, I’m very happy. Life goes on. We will play our fates, in the Europa League. “With God’s help we can enter the groups of the Europa League”, said Egbo.
President of the Albanian club, Refik Halili was also optimistic the club would use the purchase of new players to move on to greater heights.
“Fate was not with us, I am happy with the way we played. When there is loss there is also boredom. There are things that do not go well. In the next matches we will have we will have the largest contingent of players coming this week. I hope we continue to move forward. Fate was no longer with us today.
What they did we had a little while ago. If we had scored the goal, it would have been another symphony. For us as a club, the dignified performance was important. We had faith in the team. A team with a pretty name. “Fate was not with us, we hope to move forward in the next matches.”
