The Rennes coach commented at length on the elimination of his team in the play-offs against Shakhtar Donetsk.
Bruno Genesio, the Rennes coach eliminated from the Europa League in the play-off against Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday evening after the penalty shootout, confided his feelings after the match: “It hurts, it’s hard to accept because I think we deserved to qualify. But football is sometimes cruel, you have to know how to accept it and bounce back very quickly even if you are disappointed and frustrated. I told my young people that I was proud of them. If we can do the same kind of performance with a little more efficiency, we can hope for great things at the end of the season. We lacked offensive efficiency.»
The coach of the Breton club also returned to the error of Januël Belocian which allowed the Ukrainian club to reduce the score in extra time (2-1) and to grant themselves the right to play a penalty shootout. “Of course Januël is downcast, a little devastated tonight. But he made three matches in a row being good. Football is about little things. I told him to raise his head and look at what good he did. Matches like that will make him grow, will make us grow. He has a great career ahead of him, this bad memory will serve him.»
We did a lot of good things in this competition, but to exist in these competitions you also need a little experience.
Bruno Génésio
Bruno Génésio ended his analysis by returning to the whole of the European campaign of his troops. “The results of the European campaign reflect the image of the team. We did a lot of good things in this competition, but to exist in these competitions you also need a little experience. We’ve had a lot of problems lately, we can’t imagine having very high ambitions with very young players either, even if they are very good and have made me proud.»