McAteer: We're totally devastated and it hurts
Jason McAteer couldn’t hide his disappointment after the Liverpool Legends team lost 4-2 to arch-rivals Manchester United in Sweden on Thursday evening.
The former Republic of Ireland international provided the assist which led to Vladimir Smicer’s opening goal, but Bryan Robson’s side stormed back to claim the victory in Stockholm.
McAteer felt it was a case of mistakes and United’s superior fitness levels that swayed the match in their favour.
“We are devastated,” McAteer told Liverpoolfc.com. “There are a lot of bruised egos and pride in the dressing room and there’s not a lot of talking.
“We started the game really well. For the first 20 minutes we kept the ball well and we were the team tactically that played more advanced in their half.
“We threw more punches in the first 20 minutes and were more aggressive but if you look at them they soaked it up [the pressure] and they wanted to play on the break.
“We deservedly went in front and then a lapse of concentration let them in for the equaliser on the break, and they went in front through again a lack of concentration.
“They grew in confidence from that, they kept the ball a lot better than us and were a lot more disciplined.
“For the first 15 minutes of the second half we were the better team, but again silly mistakes cost us and then tiredness and frustration sets in, and the referee made a few poor decisions and there was a few tackles flying in.”
After going 4-1 down pride was at stake and David Thompson fired a consolation to get a second goal back, but sadly a famous comeback similar to the famous 3-3 game at Anfield from 1994 wasn’t to be on the cards.
He added: “At this level fitness plays a part and when you go 3-1 down it makes the mountain massive to get back into it.
“At times they showed they were fitter than us but silly mistakes cost us and we gifted them a couple of goals.”