06.08.2026 23:10
Beşiktaş Head Coach Vincenzo Italiano shared his thoughts after the match against Hradec Králové, which they won 1-0. Regarding the substitutions, Italiano said, "I thought Oh needed a companion by his side. I brought on a forward because I wanted to catch them on the counter. If I had only wanted defense, we would have dug ourselves in even deeper and made things harder for ourselves. We were brave and got our reward by winning."
In the first match of the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round, Beşiktaş defeated Czech side Hradec Králové 1-0 away, and coach Vincenzo Italiano said they secured a very important victory.
"THAT'S WHY WE SUFFERED"
Speaking at the press conference held after the match, Italiano said, "I am very happy with today's victory. We saw that there are no easy matches in Europe. Every away game and every opponent in Europe is tough, and we saw that today. We got a very important win. We need to work on the second leg. There were good things we did, but I can also say we made some mistakes. Going down to 10 men was bad. That's why we suffered a lot. This team has great potential. It can go further. We need to prepare for the second leg, win, and advance."
"NOTHING IS OVER YET"
Emphasizing that playing with fewer men is difficult, Italiano stated, "Defending with 10 men is very hard. I think we did that well. We accomplished a difficult task today. I don't want the team to go down to 10 men. It's a very tough thing. Last match Rashica, this match Semih came off the bench and scored. That shows the spirit with which this team plays. That's why I'm very happy. Nothing is over yet. There is still the second leg of this tie. I'm very happy Semih scored. I'm happy when an attacking player who hasn't been playing scores, because they need goals."
"I BROUGHT ON A FORWARD BECAUSE..."
The 48-year-old coach, who said they did not give the opponent much of the ball in the first half, also commented on switching to a two-man attack after going down to 10 men: "I thought Oh needed a partner beside him. I brought on a forward because I wanted to catch them on the counter-attack. If I only wanted to defend, we would have dug in even deeper, and our job would have become harder. We were brave, and we got rewarded for it and won."