The reaction of the two managers

Imre Szabics:

"Congratulations to the Ararat team for the win and for qualifying. What happened in the match was what we expected, but I said before the match that we would need a 100% performance to succeed, that we would have to push ourselves to the limit, but unfortunately that did not happen. We planned to have more possession and to move the ball at a high tempo, but we played slowly. The problem was that we couldn't control their players who were good on the counter-attack one hundred percent, even though they were expecting those chances all along. I could feel on Ararat's players that they wanted to go further and they succeeded. I wish them good luck for the continuation!"

One Armenian journalist wondered whether Vidi had underestimated Ararat after the draw.

"We did not underestimate our opponent. We met last week and as I said before, the match was what we expected. But this uncomfortable style they play is somewhat unusual for us, it's true. But it was not that we underestimated Ararat. (What was unusual? - another home colleague asked) What I mean by unusual is that our opponent from the first to the last minute stuck unrelentingly to a concept that relied on long balls and second balls, as well as dangerous players in counter-attacks."

Vardan Bichakhchyan: 

"I said in the first game that everything would be decided in Gyumri, because our away goal was not an advantage because of UEFA's rule change. We knew it would be a very difficult match. All our players put in a heroic performance today, and they deserve congratulations for beating a strong team with good players. We knew that if we gave the opponent even a second, Fehérvár would surely give us problems. We played with discipline and concentration from the first to the last minute and scored the goals at the right time. If I had to choose where our next European game should be, I would say the same place, because we got great support from the stands."