Akanji after Shakhtar: “We showed great character”

A hard-fought victory, achieved with ten men and team character. Akanji commented on the win against Shakhtar to the microphones of Prime Video, giving an honest assessment of the evening.

“It wasn’t easy, today we played differently,” said the defender. On Bastoni‘s red card, Akanji admitted he still didn’t have a clear answer: “I’m trying to understand what the referee saw or heard.” Despite the difficulty, the player emphasized the collective response: “We fought as a team and showed great character. That’s what this team is made of.”

Akanji then put the result in the context of the European campaign. After the match against Brugge, in which too many goals were conceded, the priority was to get back to winning: “We knew we had to react. The most important thing was to win, now we move forward.”

On the defensive side, the player pointed out room for improvement: “Sometimes we need to avoid giving away easy chances. We don’t always need to push high, we can also control and rest for a moment.”