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Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic focusing on Europa League knock-out phase despite Besiktas defeat
The Bosnian stopper was content with his performance in Turkey, but admitted it was difficult to compete following centre-back Matthew Upson's sending off
15 Dec 2011 18:35:00
By Nathan Lowe
Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has insisted his side must now look to the round of 32 in the Europa League following their defeat to Besiktas.
The Potters managed to qualify second in their group despite losing 3-1 to the Turkish club, and the Bosnian is already eyeing their possible opponents with the draw for the knockout stage due to be made on Friday.
"Once you get to the last 32, if you finish top or second you're going to get tough opposition so we'll see who we get.
"It was pleasing," he said of his performance. "It's one of those things that when the teams loses it's disappointing all around. It was good to play again, I enjoyed the atmosphere and the occasion so we'll see what happens next.
"We knew it was going to be a difficult game, they're very strong at home with the backing they have and the players they have so it was one of those things. But we gave it a good go.
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The Potters managed to qualify second in their group despite losing 3-1 to the Turkish club, and the Bosnian is already eyeing their possible opponents with the draw for the knockout stage due to be made on Friday.
"Once you get to the last 32, if you finish top or second you're going to get tough opposition so we'll see who we get.
"It's disappointing obviously not to finish top, it would have been a great achievement, but our main goal was to qualify and we achieved that."
The 24-year-old put in a solid performance in Wednesday's clash, despite the loss, and admitted it was difficult to compete following Matthew Upson's sending off."It was pleasing," he said of his performance. "It's one of those things that when the teams loses it's disappointing all around. It was good to play again, I enjoyed the atmosphere and the occasion so we'll see what happens next.
"We knew it was going to be a difficult game, they're very strong at home with the backing they have and the players they have so it was one of those things. But we gave it a good go.
"The decisions didn't go our way and once we went down to 10 men it was very difficult to keep going at the level we had before.
"We have to learn from it and keep going. We're so new in this competition so these are big lessons to be learned.
"I enjoy every time I play and that's the main thing. I love playing and I'll keep working hard to get back in the team."
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