“Sparta defended smartly, even so we should have extracted more,” said the Stuttgart coach

Stuttgart – Stuttgart coach Sebastian Hoeness praised Sparta’s defending in Tuesday’s second leg of the Champions League. According to him, the defenders of the Czech title played exactly as expected. In an interview for club website he regretted that his charges did not get the winning goal from the pressure in the second half. The match surprisingly ended 1:1.

The second team of last season’s German league led from the seventh minute thanks to Enzo Millot, but Kaan Kairinen equalized in the opening act after a great shot from a free kick. In addition, Sparta hit the goal structure twice in the first half. After the change of sides, Stuttgart pushed the visitors, but its superiority in play did not bring another hit.

“Both teams had chances in the first half. The opponent played exactly as we expected: very well organized, sharp attacking and very compact. Even though we were leading, we couldn’t get our game going,” said Hoeness.

“For most of the second half, it was a one-goal game. We had enough opportunities to make our opponents bounce back. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the reward. It happened because Sparta played very deep, especially in the second half, and defended smartly. Even so but we have to get more out of the space and chances offered and we have to make better decisions in the final third,” said the 42-year-old native of Munich.

While Letenští have four points after the first two matches of the new “millionaire” competition format, Stuttgart only one. In the first duel, the defending champions Real Madrid lost 1:3. Against Sparta, he played his first match in the Champions League since February 2010 at home in front of 60,000 spectators.

“We have to be more determined against similarly drawn opponents. We are not completely satisfied, but we take the point from the home match in the Champions League, where we played after a very long time. We will learn from it and at the same time fight back. Great respect goes to the fans, the atmosphere was incredible. It’s a shame that we didn’t win,” said captain and midfielder Atakan Karazor.

Sports football Karazor Hoeness Stuttgart AUDIO Sparta 2nd round Champions League PHOTO