Maribor coach Ante Šimundža did not hide his disappointment after the defeat in the Styrian derby: “The fact is that we beat ourselves”
Photo: Žan Pak
Celje is becoming an increasingly painful thorn in Maribor’s side. Between last November and this October, Maribor has lost only two league matches at Ljudski vrt. Both times against Celje. This season, the purple team has suffered two defeats in the Prva liga Telemach. Both against Celje. On Sunday, the hosts took the lead, only to lose with a goal in stoppage time. The coach of the home club, Ante Šimundža, was disappointed, to say the least.
“The fact is that we defeated ourselves,” Ante Šimundža told the Sportklub camera, noting that he will be without the sent-off newly capped Slovenian national team player Jan Repas for the next match. After Repas received his second yellow card after an hour of play, Maribor “fell apart,” conceded two goals, and lost.
The coach of the Styrian giant continued: “Of course, I must be honest and admit that Celje played a good match. However, I still insist that we defeated ourselves. In the first fifteen minutes, we could have scored another goal and secured a greater lead. Then the red card… We need to be smarter in these situations. We must not give referees the opportunity to issue cards. A red card? That happens. What concerns me more is the first yellow card… I won’t comment on how the referee saw everything; having a feel for the game is something else. But if that’s how the rule is, then it is. At that moment, we had substitutions ready to raise the tempo and quality of the game. Especially with speed and a bit more experience, but after the red card, that went out the window. We held on well, but then we conceded a goal from ‘our ball.’“
This text was automatically translated using AI.
Author: editorial Football Planet