The loss in the match with the Ukrainians led to the Albanians' relegation to Division C.
Albania national team head coach Sylvinho commented on his team's home defeat to Ukraine (1:2) in the match of the last 6th round of the group round of the 2024/25 Nations League season.
The Albanian coach said the reason for the defeat was his team's poor start to the match, when the Ukrainians scored two quick goals. According to him, this was what had a decisive influence on the outcome of the game.
“Why did we lose to Ukraine? Because we played the first 15 minutes of the match very poorly. We conceded in the 5th and 10th minutes. At such a high level, this is unacceptable. We paid a very high price for our own mistakes.
During the match, we changed the formation from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3. We saw that after the break, Ukraine retreated to their goal, which allowed our team to go forward and play with a large number of attacking players,” the official UAF website quotes Sylvinho as saying.
The Ukrainian national team finished second in Group B1 with 8 points and will play in the playoffs for a ticket to Division A. The Czech Republic (11 points) won our quartet, immediately rising to the elite of the Nations League. Georgia (7 points) came in third and will compete in the playoffs to retain their place in Division B. Albania (7 points) took the last place and was relegated to Division C.
See also: Nations League 2024/25: all groups and tournament tables
Rebrov's team will find out their opponent in the fight for a ticket to League A on Friday, November 22, during the draw. It will be one of the teams that finished third in the Division A groups: Scotland, Belgium, Hungary or Serbia.
The playoff matches will take place on March 20 and 23, 2025. The Ukrainian team will be the nominal host of the first match.
Earlier it was reported that the author of the decisive goal against the Albanians, Roman Yaremchuk, spoke about the victory and reaching the playoff for the right to advance to the elite of the League of Nations.