Ubeda and Boca's exit: bemoaned errors, wanted a pen, urged heads up | OneFootball

Boca were eliminated in the round of 16 of the Apertura tournament after losing 3-2 to Huracán at La Bombonera, and in the post-match press conference Xeneize coach Claudio Ubeda lamented the mistakes made in Globo’s goals and said they now have to lift their heads quickly because important Copa Libertadores matches are coming up.

Speaking to reporters, Ubeda admitted that “obviously, losing a match the way we did today leaves us distressed,” and pointed out: “If you analyze the overall flow of the game, we had absolute control of play, many scoring chances.”

El Sifón also regretted: “Yes, we made mistakes, because we started out losing after five minutes because of one of our own errors. We managed to recover. Then came the two penalties.” And he asked for one for Boca: “I also think the play involving (Santiago) Ascacíbar was a clear penalty that wasn’t given. I say that because two were given against us. They’re not excuses.”

“I have nothing to reproach the players for. They made a tremendous effort, 120 minutes of an intense match. We created the chances. We have to focus on finishing our plays better,” said the coach, before again lamenting: “We can’t keep making those kinds of unforced errors. They end up knocking you out of an important competition.”

With their elimination from the Apertura tournament, Boca must now focus on the closing stages of their Copa Libertadores group, where with two matches left they sit third and outside the round of 16 spots.

“What we have to be clear about is that we have two finals ahead of us and we have to stay focused. Reduce the margin of error as much as possible,” said Ubeda, referring to the matches against Cruzeiro and Universidad Católica, both at La Bombonera.

“What we have to do is lift our heads as quickly as possible. We have hugely important competition ahead of us and enough reasons to know that we have to lift our heads right now and understand that we’re facing two matches that are two finals. I’m sure the team will do well,” he added.

“You learn from mistakes and we can’t let this kind of stage we’re playing slip by. If you don’t win, you’re out and there’s no margin for error. They have to serve as a reference so we realize they can’t be made again. In this particular match, the logic of the game changed after five minutes, when we started out behind because of the first mistake. That’s where the way we played changed. For me, that was it. It wasn’t a virtue of the opponent,” Ubeda said, adding: “I don’t want to talk about injustice because we didn’t score from the chances we had, but we did have almost absolute control. The opponent had hardly any clear chances. That leaves us sad.”

“We had the obligation to get through this round because we felt we had to do it. The boys did everything to turn it around,” Ubeda said, and referred to the team’s lack of efficiency in attack: “Miguel (Merentiel) is a player who creates, who creates scoring chances for himself, and he does it well. Sometimes strikers go through bad runs, just like when they’ve had good ones. We have to support him and keep working on things related to finishing so as to reduce that margin of error.”

“Before those matches both of them were on good runs. When (Adam) Bareiro arrived, he started playing and scored goals right away. Miguel had been scoring too. It normally happens. We have to work on confidence when it comes to finishing and make sure they can keep creating chances,” he added.

“Mentally, we have to hold on to the good things we did in this match; the way we pinned Huracán back for much of the game shows an attitude of constantly going after the result, and we always come back to the same thing: reducing the margin of error we make and our lack of finishing,” Ubeda concluded.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.