"Lunin? Trubin deserved to play and could have started earlier"

Ukraine coach Serhiy Rebrov explained on Friday after the 2-1 win over Slovakia at Euro 2024 that he is "happy" with the competition he has in goal, with Andriy Lunin relegated to the bench in favour of Antoliy Trubin, who "deserved to play".

"I'm happy that we have good competition between the goalkeepers. Trubin deserved to play after his performance against Germany. He was very calm and could have started before this game," he said of the change in the first-choice keeper after Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin's two errors in the 3-0 opening-day defeat to Romania.

The victory over Slovakia improved the performance. "I didn't shout at half-time. We should have reacted in the second half. We weren't pressing high enough. We understood it was our chance and that's what I said. I told them 'don't worry about the result and go for it'," said the coach, who admitted his team did "very badly" against Romania but on Friday they showed a "different spirit and deserved to win".