Three out of four not bad for Zvezda
Friday, November 14, 2008
Article summary
Alexander Grigoryan felt Zvezda-2005's UEFA Women's Cup quarter-final win against Brøndby IF was well deserved, barring a shaky spell in Kazan, pointing out: "Of the tie's four halves, we were better in three of them."
Article top media content
Article body
Coach Alexander Grigoryan felt Zvezda-2005's UEFA Women's Cup quarter-final win against Brøndby IF was well deserved, barring a shaky second half in Kazan last night.
Deserved victory
Already 4-2 up from the opening leg in Denmark, the Russian side raced into a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Vera Djatel and Natalia Barbashinaonly only to lose momentum – and concede – after the break. A late Valentina Savchenkova strike eventually sealed victory. "Any victory over an opponent like Brøndby brings great joy and satisfaction," said Grigoryan. "Of the tie's four halves, we were better in three of them. We deserved to make it through to the semis.
Second-half wobble
"We made a great start. Djatel beat three opponents to open the scoring and then Barbashina doubled our lead," the 42-year-old added. "We were much stronger than Brøndby in the first half and had three more clear scoring chances. We gave away the initiative in the second half. Brøndby showed character and proved they are not a weak team. We played really poorly. It was a relief when we made a quick counterattack and Savchenkova went one-on-one and made no mistake."