Goncharenko praises 'perfect' BATE
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Article summary
A "perfect" first half for Viktor Goncharenko and FC BATE Borisov was in stark contrast to LOSC Lille's display, with Rudi Garcia first to admit his team had been shown "no mercy".
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Viktor Goncharenko, BATE coach
The first half was perfect, nearly ideal – we played at the top of our game. We wanted to press LOSC and we managed to do that. I don't know if Lille underestimated us but we have some quality players and we showed our class today.
We weren't at all surprised by the way we played. We were convinced before the match that we could play without panic and that's what we did. Of course it's good to start with three points but there are still five matches to play. It's too early to talk about qualifying.
Rudi Garcia, LOSC coach
We could have done much better in the first half. Fortunately we showed our pride in the second – that is important for the future. BATE were very efficient in the opening period with three goals from three or four attempts. I think we failed in several areas of the game, in terms of tackling and positioning. At this level, there is no mercy. We'll have to stop making life so difficult for ourselves, as we did today and in our last home [league] game.
