Chivu: “The boys gave everything right to the end”

“The penalty? I was thinking about everything we'd done today. We'd played a really good, disciplined game and found ourselves behind to a shot from 30 yards out. We got our reward for the quality we'd shown. We stayed calm, kept our heads and did what we needed to do in a game like this. The boys gave absolutely everything right until the end to achieve what we'd set out to do, which was to win. These games are never easy. I was hoping Zielinski would score, but it's never straightforward. Even if the result had gone the other way, I'd have said exactly the same things. The boys deserve nothing but praise for their performance today. Bonny is harder for defenders to pin down. With Pio, it was easier for the two defenders because they could stay tight to him. We wanted to bring more movement into our attack, but we couldn't find the breakthrough and then we fell behind. We created chances and knew that the key today would be getting the ball out wide because there was so little space through the middle. We needed to attack down the flanks and get players into the box. That was also why we brought Lavelli on. We believed right until the end. Performances like that will bring rewards, even if you don't always get the result. And we kept going despite incidents and injustices that could easily have knocked us down. That's football. You have to keep the same mentality and sometimes find that little bit extra. I don't want to see players complaining or feeling sorry for themselves. I want to see them respond, and that's exactly what we're doing. Having to come from behind isn't a problem, even if it's sometimes made out to be one. There will be different kinds of games too. That's football, but the important thing is not to let setbacks get you down. You have to keep believing in what you're doing and stay determined. So far, I think we've done that pretty well.”