Europa League – “I don’t know why we can’t do it…”: taken over by Shakhtar Donetsk, OM no longer knows how to win

“It’s crazy, huh? Normally, coming to a draw away in a European confrontation is something positive.” Eyes in the dark, Amine Harit no longer found much to hold on to. In Hamburg, against Shakhtar Donetsk, his team conceded a new draw on Thursday (2-2), the fifth in its last six But as the Moroccan illustrated with a touch of irony, this should never have taken place.

Taken back in the very last moments (2-2, 90+3rd) by their Ukrainian opponents, even though they had just taken over the match thanks to an achievement from Iliman Ndiaye (1-2, 90th), the Olympians could no longer even appreciate the few little things they brought back from their trip: 2 goals scored, a second half punctuated by some nice sequences, and an option on qualification.

“I don’t know why we can’t win. I just know this is the picture of this team and this seasonsaid Gennaro Gattuso painfully at a press conference, he who mentioned a mental problem to explain this improbable end to the match. We can continue to talk about defense with three, four, five… But that’s not the question. It’s mentally difficult to suffer this kind of knockout.” What do the few positive points matter, when the frustration has doubled everything else. “It’s like a defeathe added bluntly. You have to be objective and there’s no point beating around the bush. (…) You can finally win after five matches and you repeat this knockout, you leave again bitter and frustrated.”

“We manage to score two good goals, against a team which has put some very good teams in difficulty in its Champions League groupHarit admitted without joy. But we always ruin everything by careless mistakes, a lack of concentration at key moments of the match.“The worst part of all this is that the cure, at present, seems unknown.”We’ve had these kinds of problems all season, it’s been like that since I arrived. How to solve them, I don’t know, I’m having trouble“, admitted Gennaro Gattuso.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, also quite frustrated by the turn of events this Thursday evening, had an idea. “Excuse me for the terms, but we have to get off our ass“, said the Gabonese in front of the press, after having defined as a “virus“the lethargy in which OM has been immersed for too long already.”Everyone is aware that we can do 10 times better.” To qualify against Shakhtar Donetsk next Thursday, the rule leaves no choice: you will have to win anyway, at least on penalties, to see the round of 16 of the Europa League.