LOSC Lille are off to a miserable start in the Champions League with the French club losing 3-1 at home to BATE Borisov in the opening encounter
The hosts were three goals down in the first half, and Aurelien Chedjou’s goal in the second half, was nothing more than a consolation for the Ligue 1 outfit.
And Les Dogues’ coach, Rudi Garcia is disappointed with his side’s performance on Wednesday at Grand Stade Lille Metropole.
While talking to reporters after the match, the 48-year-old bemoaned Lille’s poor start to the campaign.
Praising their opponents, the coach said that BATE Borisov played really well and made life difficult for LOSC. It was a great performance from the Belarusian side and they didn’t waste many chances in front of the goal.
"We could have done much better in the first half. BATE were very efficient in the opening period with three goals from three or four attempts.”
Garcia said that Lille made the situation more difficult than it actually was. Players didn’t play to their potential, and in such kind of games, margin of error is very little.
The coach said that the defeat in the opening game of the competition is not what Lille needed, and it will make things very difficult for the 2010/2011 champions of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899.
"We failed in terms of positioning; we have to stop handicapping ourselves and at this level, there is no mercy. We just had a nightmare and it's the worst start we could have had."
After falling at the first hurdle, Garcia knows the importance of the remaining five group games. And the coach has asked his players to move on from the defeat and focus on their up-coming matches.
"We need points if we want to stay alive in this tournament and we'll have to be focused on finding solutions."
The 48-year-old said that Les Dogues need to get back to winning ways as early as possible, and has urged his players to prove the doubters wrong by winning their remaining games.
"Let's hope it was an accident, we need to make the predictions wrong.”
Lille face Spanish side, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Valencia-c40863, in their next game of the Champions League.
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