V. Dambrauskas, the first Lithuanian head coach to lead his team to the Champions League, returned to the Old Trafford stadium on Thursday evening, where he had previously only visited as a tourist or a youth team coach, and shook hands with Manchester United legend Michael Carrick, who is at the helm of the Red Devils.
The Azerbaijani champions resisted opponents valued at nearly 50 times more for almost half an hour, but in the 27th minute Matheus Cunha put the Manchester team ahead.
Two more strikes were absorbed by Sabah just before halftime – Bruno Fernandes and Benjamin Šeško scored in the 42nd and 45th minutes. Lisandro Martinez sealed the result in the 68th minute.
“Of course, I am proud as a coach,” said V. Dambrauskas even after the 0:4 defeat. “This was our debut at this level and maybe deep down we hoped for more, so it is a bit disappointing how we conceded the goals – especially the two at the end of the first half.
At those moments, the lack of experience showed, because when we had the chance to play, we tried to keep the ball and control the game. Of course, United tried to prevent us from playing, but we also had our moments.”
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The coach of the team that will play at least eight matches in total praised the brightest star of the opponents after the game and congratulated the rivals, for whom this was the first Champions League match since the 2023-2024 season.
“The gaps between our attack and defense lines were sometimes too big. When we lost the ball, sometimes we couldn’t organize ourselves, so they could attack us. Bruno Fernandes is Bruno Fernandes – he is an incredible player. Congratulations to United. They returned to the Champions League after a three-year break and immediately won, so congratulations on that,” said the Lithuanian.
“As I said before the match, we faced reality a bit,” added V. Dambrauskas. “We know the direction we need to go. I believe that in our country we will look like winners tonight because we fought, tried to play as best as possible. Of course, even our best efforts were not enough.”
Sabah will play their next match on October 13, when they will host a much more beatable opponent – Slavia Prague from the Czech Republic.
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