SHAMROCK ROVERS boss Stephen Bradley criticised the arrogance of Celje manager Alberto Riera after the Irish side overcame their Slovenian opponents in the Europa League third qualifying round on Thursday night.
The former Liverpool player made some provocative pre-match comments, telling The Irish Independent: “We are totally confident. We know what we can do and we’ll try to show we are a better team.”
While they survived a couple of scares, Rovers were worthy 3-1 winners after extra time and advanced to face Greek outfit PAOK in a Europa League playoff next week, while Celje have been demoted to the Uefa Conference League.
The victory means Rovers will contest the group stages of a European competition for the second time in three seasons after Bradley’s men qualified for the Conference League in 2022.
In many people’s eyes, the Hoops were underdogs going into Thursday’s match, particularly after losing the first leg 1-0.
However, the manager suggested their opponents’ pre-match cockiness served as extra motivation to pull off an upset.
“I think they just felt so arrogant in everything they did, how they spoke, their manager was arrogant, he didn’t give us any respect,” Bradley told reporters.
“You could feel that over there, you could feel it in his press before the game, so I knew with his arrogance, very similar to Vikingur, that they would be open for us to hurt them and they were.
“I think these managers think that just because they have had a good playing career that it takes over into managing and coaching. They need to leave their egos at the door and actually do their work. Complete arrogance and a lack of respect he showed us as a club, the staff and the players. I knew if we got them back here we would beat them, because of that arrogance.
“You saw how Sparta [Prague] came here, they gave us the ultimate respect in how they defended and pressed. Vikingur and Celje were the opposite and they got punished for it.”
Asked if he regretted his pre-match comments after the game, Riera — whose former clubs include Man City, Galatasaray, Espanyol and Bordeaux — doubled down.
“I have to be confident in my team,” the Celje boss told reporters. “And still, I am thinking that we are a better team than Shamrock Rovers but we need to show it on the pitch.
“Football is not about who is better all the time. Without everything else, it’s impossible to win. We made a lot of mistakes. I don’t think you can tell me that Shamrock were better than us in the end. It’s about who makes fewer mistakes, who creates the chances and who scores goals from the chances.
“We had lots of chances in the previous game and today, also we had some chances but we didn’t take them. They did, or we let them.
“I say it like this because the first penalty is a present. The second, from a throw-in, is almost a present. So you are giving them goals.
“If you check the goals, they are not coming from any mistakes from Shamrock. They are coming from our situations.”
Bradley was equally unimpressed at these latest remarks.
“He still thinks he’s a player. He was a good player, but when you become a coach and a manager that goes out the window, you have to do your work and respect who you are against. There are levels to this and Sparta gave us the ultimate respect, Celje didn’t. We knew tonight they wouldn’t change, that they would be very open and that we could hurt them and we did that. The players deserve all the credit but his arrogance has really hurt them.
“It’s an easy one for the team. You just have to repeat what he said. It didn’t surprise me at all. When you play the top-level teams, and we have played enough of them, you can see why they are top-level, they use class in everything they do, how they handle themselves, and how they approach games.
“When you come down the levels, you start to see people who think they are top-level but they are not, and he thought he was top-level. A good player, but it’s irrelevant. Those days are gone. Complete arrogance. His comments in the press yesterday were brilliant for us. They didn’t surprise me at all.”
Bradley suggested the result was “right up there” among the best he has achieved as a manager but added: “We have qualified but I always felt we had the beating of these, and how they behaved, it even gave us more motivation to go and do it.”
I really don’t understand why Cork and super value park don’t step in here and offer to take the games in its place. Problem solved
@Michael Corkery: 100%
@Michael Corkery: not really, it doesn’t have the requisite capacity, only 29k covered seats….
@Sea Point: 20k covered seats, rest is standing and uncovered….
Being honest they should try redevelop Windsor Park. It’s a football tournament all games should be to the benefit of football not GAA. Gaa have the money and Casement Park will get done but won’t be completed on time. As for the money from Apple open up sport centres around the country like the 1 up in Blanch. There should be regional centres around Munster Leinster , Connaught and Ulster we all seen how great the Olympics was more facilities all over Ireland greater chance we get double figures in medals.
@Leighton Cullen: Windsor got money and was redeveloped, but making it any bigger would be a white elephant. Casement was earmarked £70m back in 2013, but hasnt got that yet as it will now need more.
@Leighton Cullen: Windsor Park and RavenHill were redeveloped for the soccer and rugby fraternity. The NI Executive stalled on developing Casement then collapsed over BREXIT, handily enough for the Unionists not being seen to fund Gaelic games. The costs since have spiralled.
Never trust a word from the UK Government.
The rationale for NI to continue to remain as part of the UK continues to crumble. There has been scant investment in Northern Ireland since 2010 and now another hammer blow to the local economy. This is the same Govt that will spend 80bn on defense this year and frankly doesnt care about infrastructure outside of London.
They will of course happily continue to turn NI, Scotland and Norther England into welfare dependent areas and not look to give its own people a chance
@Owen ODonoghue: I wouldnt begrudge the 80b on defense. Was an intresting report on Irish defence being wholly underfunded esp when it is to protect important transatlantic cabling. Relying of fishermen to deter the Russian navy, the RAF to intercept planes and not even having rader capable of tracking jets when then turn their civilian transponders off, something Russian jets do quite often to test air defences. Current Irish airforce planes would struggle against a spitfire.Irish defence spending should increase to at least 2% of GDP.
@Kingshu: i 100% agree with you, its more the allocation of budget, they could take 0.5% of defense and cover this or 0.1% of social welfare and cover it. Think of the jobs etc etc
And 1000% on Ireland and defense, we need radar, a functional navy and fighter jets
@Owen ODonoghue: UK as a NATO country is obliged to spend 2% of GDP on defence, it spends 2.3% increasing to 2.5% but even then the UK defence forces aren’t in great shape, I dont think they are overspending on defence. But 100% they can afford Casement, and have been embrassed that the Irish Government has contributed. £400m is an exaggeration to make them look better for not assisting, think their plan was to wait untill it was too late for Euros so they could pull out. Bit money could be found all NI somehow found £350m for the new Grand Central station that wasnt even needed. Would love Irish goverment to step in with the Money from Apple tax and build it for less than £400m and in time for Euros.
We can build it with some loose change from the 13 billion.
We are funding the roads may aswell build a stadium
@Bryan Mc Mahon: in essentially another country?
@Michael Corkery:
@Michael Corkery: for now
@Bryan Mc Mahon: lots of dilapidated stadiums in the state to fix first.
@Michael Corkery: I don’t see Belfast as being in another country
@Michael Corkery: Shame on you.
@Kingshu: don’t get me wrong , I’m for reunification but as things stand, Dublin should not be making up for shortfalls in British exchequer funding. As others have said, there are huge infrastructure needs that are not being met south of the border – sporting and otherwise. We may be rich in comparison to our nearest neighbor but compare us to continental Europe and we’re still miles behind where they are
What about Fitzgerald Stadium in Kerry- Great scenery