Lady Luck supports
AEK
Eck can't believe Hibs are out of Europe
(John Campbell)
A DISAPPOINTED BUT
FIERCELY PROUD Alex McLeish will this morning be reflecting on the fact that
his side is out of this season's UEFA Cup, despite a quite magnificent
performance in front of a packed Easter Road last night
In a quite superb ninety
minutes of normal time Hibs totally dominated their opponents and made a
hatful of goal scoring chances, two of which were converted by Paco Luna,
taking the tie into extra time, unfortunately without the services of both
Franck Sauzee and John O'Neil who'd both picked up injuries which caused
their substitution. Sadly, the Greeks scored twice in the first period
of that extra time and although David Zitelli won the game on the night with
an awesome strike from 25 yards it was too little, too late for Hibs.
"We gave everything
tonight and should have won the game in normal time; there is no doubt about
that. I wish AEK good luck in the next round of the Cup because they
certainly had a lot of luck tonight. I don't think anybody can deny
that over the ninety minutes we were well worth a victory and should
have had another couple of goals. We should be in the next round but
all the luck out there tonight was with AEK."
Paco celebrates his second (sns)
Paco Luna, scorer of both
Hibs' normal time goals had a chance at the death to win the tie outright in
normal time but his glancing header flew wide with the keeper nowhere to be
seen. Acknowledging the opportunity, McLeish said of Luna;
"He had a great game and had the last touch
of the ball in regulation time, a header in front of goals and he was very
unfortunate not to score. He and all of my players gave a great
performance and we gave AEK the fright of their lives tonight."
A turning point in the
game was the introduction of midfield playmaker Vassilis Tsartas who had
been outstanding in the first leg last week.
"Tsartas is a very good player and we had to
change our system slightly when he came on because he floats around and is
difficult to pick up but even allowing for that we should have won the game
and I have never been more proud of my players, they were phenomenal.
I asked them to give me everything and go for it tonight. We were 2 -
0 down from the first game and we had to be positive. I think we were
and the fans were fantastic in their backing of the team. But for Lady
Luck being against us, Hibernian would be in the next round of the UEFA
Cup."
Had Hibs won the game in
regulation time it would have been no more than they deserved and they
certainly had the chance to do so. Paco Luna scored two goals and also
had three other good chances to finish off the Greeks but he can hold his
head high after a magnificent performance on the night which earned him many
peoples' Man of the Match award. Pushing him closely for that
accolade must have been the frighteningly strong and pacy Ulises De La Cruz,
the tireless Matty Jack and a near faultless Ulrik Laursen but for me the
award should go to young Ian Murray who didn't put a foot wrong and was
outstanding in an orthodox left back role.
The atmosphere inside the
Stadium was quite awesome and even when the tie went into extra time there
was reason to believe that Hibs could go on and win it. Sadly, that
extra period was only two minutes old when Tsartas struck home from about 20
yards to make it 2 - 1 and leave Hibs needing to score another two goals to
progress. McLeish was able to pinpoint the reason for the loss of that
goal and explained "We were caught
messing about in the right back position when we could and should have
played the easy ball back to Nick to start building again but we didn't and
Tsartas punished us with a clean strike. The thing is we were very
confident before the game and especially when we saw that AEK had a very
defensive set up meaning they were going to try and protect their lead.
We made loads of chances but they had a lot of luck and will be a very
relieved team going home on the plane tonight in the knowledge that they
were extremely fortunate to go through"
Refusing to be drawn on
the time wasting and theatrical tactics of the Greek team, McLeish would
simply say that it's the sort of thing you expect in European football,
where it is part of the game and that instead he would ask his players to
concentrate on the positives, learn from them and move on with confidence to
future games. Still looking stunned at what he'd just watched, McLeish
confessed "It's over, we're out and
some of the lads will go home and not sleep tonight because they know we
should be through. Personally, I'm very proud of their performance and
I'm proud of the fans who always believed we could do it. Not many
gave us a chance and even some of our own press guys were saying last week
that it was over and so I hope they'll think about those words again even
though they were ultimately proved right."
Not quite so gracious in
victory was AEK Coach Fernando Santos who refused to accept that his side
were fortunate to go through and insisted that he always felt that they'd
score. He added that nothing he'd seen from Hibs really surprised him,
that he'd expected the Easter Road side to be physical and to pump high
balls into the middle which "is
exactly what they did"
Fernando Santos (sns)
Of course such words do
Hibs a great disservice as much of their play was of a very high quality,
making good use of the pace and strength of De La Cruz and the mercurial
skills of Paco Luna.
A lasting memory will be
the sight of Luna lying prostrate inside the six yard box as the final
whistle for normal time blew, just seconds after he'd missed with that
header. He was clearly distressed about it and at the end of extra
time, with his side out of the competition, he trooped forlornly off the
pitch, even though the fans had been chanting his name in a sure sign that
they did not blame him in any way for the UEFA Cup exit.
Confirming the anguish
felt by the Spaniard, Ulrik Laursen told us
"He could have made it 3 - 0 at the end of
normal time but that's how football goes and although I feel we gave
everything the fans asked of us we lost the game and we are sorry for that.
Paco was magnificent tonight and like all of us he is devastated that we are
out but no-one holds anything against him for that miss. He was great
for us tonight and his form in the League has been really good too."
So ends the European dream
but if the players enjoyed the experience half as much as they seemed to or
even a quarter as much as the magnificent support did then they will be
ready, willing and able to face Livingston on Sunday knowing that three
points will bring the whole European experience a step closer for next
season.
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