It was all looking so good, so positive... and then Antoine Griezmann struck to change the complexion of our tie against Atletico Madrid.
Having finished 1-1, we go to Spain next week needing to deliver a similar performance if we are to progress to the Europa League final.
Jack Wilshere is confident we will do just that, and this is what he told the media after the match:
on whether it feels like a missed chance…
Yes, but at the same time it’s only half-time. We knew what type of team they are – they were always going to try to hit us on the counter and I thought we dealt with that pretty well and defended really well. They had a bit of luck off the keeper but at this level that’s a massive goal for them. But at the same time we're confident that we can go to Madrid and with the chances we created tonight, we are definitely going to create some chances and hopefully we’ll put them away
on his thoughts when they opened the scoring…
I was thinking let’s go at them and really put them to the sword. We were dominant in the game and I felt we started really well and that helped us, but we should have scored early on so that it could settle us down a bit. We came out in the second half and knew it would be more of the same. They were going to sit in and try hit us on the counter attack and we had to be patient and move the ball. We done that and got the goal and I really thought we were going to get two or three, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. Now we need to regroup and take the positives from tonight and take them to Madrid.
on Griezmann’s goal…
All I remember is Danny possibly got fouled – I don’t really know as I couldn’t see from where I was – and then their player hooked it away and all of a sudden Griezmann is in and you can’t give a player a player of his quality that time. They got a bit lucky with the bounce off David, but if you give a player like that an opportunity he’s going to punish you.
on Atletico not conceding at home in over three months…
We’re going to have to take the positives from tonight as we created loads and loads of chances and they have a great goalkeeper, but at the same time we found ways through their defence and we have to keep doing that. Hopefully a little bit of luck will be on our side on the night.
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