Da Costa: Köln defeat “nothing to do with us being tired”

Here’s what Mainz’s Danny da Costa had to say in his post-match interview.

After their 1-0 defeat to FC Köln this afternoon, Danny da Costa was interviewed by Bundesliga channel where the Mainz defender gave a synopsis on the game.

The turning point in the match appeared to coincide with the 60th-minute red card for Paul Nebel, but da Costa found it difficult to place the blame solely on his 22-year-old teammate.

“Yeah, of course. It becomes more difficult when you have one guy less. But I think especially at the start of the game we had the possibility to score a goal. 

“In the second-half we also had chances, as even after we were a man less we had one good chance, so it’s too easy to blame the result on the red card. 

“The goal they [Köln] scored, it was just the perfect cross and it was unbelievable. We didn’t allow them many chances but they got one and used it. It hurts right now,” he said. 

When asked about whether the frequency of games and last Thursday’s Conference League play-off with Rosenborg contributed to tiredness, da Costa dismissed the notion.

“No, I don’t think so. When we started the game we had a chance to score and make it 1-0. For me that had nothing to do with us being tired. 

“We gave it our best and we had a really good run today, we ran a lot even with one guy less so to put it on last Thursday’s game [vs Rosenborg] is too easy,” he added.