‘A lesson in efficiency and quality’: Union St Gilloise disappointed not to earn a point against Atletico Madrid | OneFootball

Union St Gilloise suffered a third defeat in a row in the Champions League on Tuesday evening. The side battled hard but ended up losing 3-1 away from home against La Liga’s Atletico Madrid. While prior to the game, Atletico Madrid would have been out and out favourites, Union came away from the game disappointed that they were unable to take what would have been a deserved point from the game.

In interviews with the media after the game, players and head coach David Hubert reflected on what could have been. Former KV Mechelen captain Rob Schoofs said that Atletico Madrid gave the side a ‘A lesson in efficiency and quality’. Head coach David Hubert, while dissapointed about the result, heaped plenty of praise on his sides pasion and commitment, saying ‘I’m proud of what the boys showed’.

Hubert himself is a newcomer to the Union set up, having joined from lowly OH Leuven just a few weeks ago. However, the side haven’t missed a beat domestically and in this game against Atletico Madrid at least they were competitive. It should give them some confidence going int the rest of the Champions League competition. Given that their last two games prior to the game in Madrid were 4-0 defeats to Newcastle and Inter, it is safe to say that lessons defensively have been learned. Union just need to take some of the chances that they are able to create at this level.

Interestingly, Union also had more English players in their starting XI against Atletico Madrid than Liverpool and Tottenham in their respective fixtures combined. One of those, Ross Sykes, was the scorer of their solitary goal and said he had mixed feelings. While happy about the goal, Sykes was also disappointed that the side lost the game.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson