I changed my mind at the last moment before free kick

"It was the hardest game so far, we went here to play an unbeaten team. And we did it," says Nicolae Stanciu who scored the first goal against Rangers.

After a home draw, Slavia managed to win 2-0 away – the same result as against Leicester – and qualified for the quarter-finals. “It feels amazing. For us this was the hardest game so far in this season. We came here to play a team which was unbeaten for a long time, and we did it for the first time [in the Europa League]. It feels really good, I am glad we went through to the quarter-finals.”

Slavia reached the Quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League again after the Red-whites did so in 2018/19 season. However, Stanciu joined the club a year later. “I was there once with Anderlecht, unfortunately, we couldn’t reach the semi-finals. I hope, this year with Slavia we can go further.”

Stanciu scored a beautiful curler from the free kick. “I changed mi mind at the last moment. I spoke to Provi [Lukáš Provod] shortly before the free kick and he told me to shoot on the goalkeeper’s side, that probably he had seen our last games. I wanted to do it, but I saw him standing there, in the far corner, and I thought this was the opportunity to shoot normally over the wall. I am glad it went in.”

Nico scored in both legs, will he chase goalkeeper McGregor in his dreams? “I don’t think so. Personally, I have a lot of respect for Rangers, for this team and for the goalkeeper. He is great and makes unbelievable saves. I don’t think I’ll be in his dreams. I just try to help the team.”

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