After a disappointing draw against Gibraltar, Malta will be hoping to bounce back as Emilio De Leo’s side hosts Andorra in another match from Group D1 of the UEFA Nations League at the National Stadium on Sunday, kick-off at 18:00.
On Thursday, Malta created the chances, having 17 attempts at goal, compared to Gibraltar’s 9, and creating 39 attacks, compared to Gibraltar’s 10, but in the end Malta had to settle for a 1-1 draw which although extended the positive streak to four matches, saw Malta drop the first two points in the group.
To win the group, a win on Sunday is a must.
Photos courtesy of Malta FA
Addressing the media on Saturday, De Leo said “It was a disappointing draw. We have already seen what we can change and the mistakes we made. We had a good performance, but we did not express ourselves well enough. We were too cynical and not concrete enough.”
“We need to see the spaces, take risks, win the 1v1 situations and make the final pass. We need to fill the area and have the right determination. We created opportunities, but we were not good enough at converting them.”
“They did not surprise us. Every team tries to give you a good game. We need to be stronger when we recover the ball, strong in every sense, put our qualities onto the pitch and dominate the game rather than simply hoping that everything goes well.”
“I don’t like to judge decisions afterwards. There is a difference between taking decisions during the game and looking at them now. Obviously, I have reflected and I am self-critical; I do this all the time. For sure, we had to be more incisive.”
“We analysed our mistakes and it was an own goal that we did not deserve. But these are moments that help us grow. We have to learn from them.”
Goalkeeper Henry Bonello added “The ball was deflected. If there was no deflection, it would have gone out, but with the deflection, whatever I did, it went the other way.”
“We are speaking now because we saw that they had two shots on target and one of them was a goal. Had we scored all the chances we missed, we would be here speaking about a completely different game.”
“One thing that really affects the team is the frustration of not having won. Hand on heart, we know that we are the better team and that we have won the direct encounters most of the time. But we have to keep our feet on the ground. Every game has its own story and we have to do everything possible to win it.”
Being the fourth game in eleven days, the Malta coach could opt for some changes but said that after Thursday’s game, they only held a recovery session and had therefore not yet made up his mind on any changes.“We had a recovery session with around half of the team, so at this moment I cannot really say who will be available or not. We will see tonight, together with my staff, and then we will have a clearer picture.”
Andorra are coming from a 3-0 defeat to Lithuania in a friendly match in Kaunas after earning the first point in a draw with Gibraltar away from home following the 1-2 defeat to Malta in the opening game in the group.
Out of the seven matches between Malta and Andorra, four were played at Ta’ Qali with Malta winning just once – a 3-1 win in the UEFA Nations League in November 2020. The other three matches ended in draws – 1-1 in February 2000 and March 2–2 while the last clash in November 2024 – another match from the UEFA Nations League – ended in a goalless draw.
