It seemed like a movie we have seen before in recent times with Lugano's opponent getting the most the times they entered the box while the HCLers, despite creating five sharp goal chances in the last quarter of an hour, failed to beat Mall (the best of his team).
WE CONCEDE TOO MANY GOALS
Coach Mattia Croci-Torti in the aftermath of the game issues messages of encouragement and appeals to stand by the players in an objectively delicate moment.
"It's never easy to see a team concede so many goals, as has happened to us in this turn of the season. We lacked defensive solidity, however, now is also the time to help these guys get to the end, to push them to win the last games. It seems like we have a high mountain to climb in front of us but it is time to stand by the boys, it is no longer the time to be tough but if anything to help everyone because the next two games are very important for us.
STILL TWO VERY DIFFICULT CHALLENGES
"Even today we suffered hard-to-digest goals however, we have to be able to keep our heads up and try to give positive energy to the group. They have to recover as best they can because there are still two very difficult challenges ahead."
STAYING CLOSE TO THE KIDS
"When things go wrong it is not easy to react. We are a team that at one point had high goals, especially one, and when it faded mentally we struggled to pull ourselves together. A lot of times words and gestures don't help. But as a coach and staff it is at these junctures that we have to try, as I said before, to be even closer to the team. These are the moments that are not easy but can happen, the important thing is not to suffer them passively. Goals taken badly destabilize everything else. Even tonight we started to come out to play and at the first cross right away we got a goal and before the break another futile goal. At the end at 2-1 you're trying to get it back and you miss again. As I always tell the guys the goal of the team and the coach is to fix the mistake and that is what we are struggling to do. Coming out of these moments is not easy, but you come out of it trying to be a team, you have to give it a try and try to help everybody."
WE WANT TO CLING TO EUROPE
-Fourth and fifth places produce a month of July and August filled with European elimination matches with a team that will be half-founded. Wouldn't it be better to finish sixth and calmly focus on building a new team with time to work on it?
"Those who wear the black and white jersey on their shoulders have a duty to try to win every game. So no other talk should be taken into consideration. The opponents were better than us, it must be admitted, especially in this round and it is right that they are the ones to place themselves in the highest positions. We, however, will do everything to hang on to Europe again and get to the preliminaries as we did last year. In sports as in life you never give up, you have to fight and struggle while accepting that there are negative moments but trying to turn them around. To criticize today and see only the things that don't work is too easy, we really need to get back to being a team. I will make sure that the disqualified and injured come to Lausanne as well, I will ask the club. It's important to all stand together."
BOTTANI: RETURN HUMBLE
For captain Mattia Bottani "there is little to say, today we tried to play lower and with fewer men forward. But there is more work to be done. These are all lessons for the many young people we have on the team: thinking only about beauty is not enough. We have to play focused and with humility, the opponents are all equipped like ours and we are not Real Madrid, as a result we lose games and concede a lot of goals. There are two games left there is a need to make a few more meters for the mate and be humble otherwise it will go wrong there too. The first half we didn't play badly, the problem is that when things don't turn and mentally you are not confident, distances get longer, you have fewer teammates close to play with and if at the first mistake you get a goal then it becomes hard to recover."