Viktoria Plzen’s head coach, Miroslav Koubek, heaped praise on Nigerian striker Rafiu Durosinmi, who scored a crucial brace to propel the Czech side into the Europa League round of 16.
Viktoria Plzen faced an uphill task after losing the first leg 1-0 to Ferencvaros, but Rafiu Durosinmi’s heroics in front of their home crowd turned the tie around, scoring two goals in 11 minutes, in addition to Pavel Sulc’s strike, to give Viktoria Plzen a commanding 3-0 lead in a thrilling first-half display.
Speaking during his post-match press conference, Miroslav Koubek acknowledged that Rafiu Durosinmi still has room for improvement, but his performances since returning from a 13-month injury layoff have been nothing short of impressive.
“Rafiu is excellent in the penalty area. He has a goal instinct, he can find the right place and get to the ball. However, his lack in the middle game and combination component is still visible. He is far from his top level yet. But if he scores two goals in 60 minutes of play, we will definitely not complain,” the head coach said.
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Koubek also praised the rest of the team for sticking to the game plan: “When you are losing 1-0, you have to bet on high activity and pressing. Don’t waste time and immediately bite into the opponent. After five to ten minutes, we started to succeed. Before the match, I said that we had to improve the final phase. We were very productive, we scored three goals,” he said.
“It was based on enormous hard work and the risk of flying into Ferencváros. In the second half, we played more tactically, not letting the opponent score. The tactical side deserves a big compliment. The course of the match had two faces. First, we had to equalize and turn the match around, then hold it and not concede,” he added.
Looking ahead to the round of 16, Koubek commented on potential opponents Lazio and Athletic Bilbao. “You can’t choose. Both teams are good. Athletic Club also has a lot of motivation to reach the final, which is being played at their stadium. That means more difficulty for us.”
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