Football
ESPN staff 8y

Albania's Lorik Cana 'overwhelmed' by occasion of opener - Gianni De Biasi

Albania captain Lorik Cana was sent off in his team's Euro 2016 opening defeat to Switzerland because he was "overwhelmed," his coach Gianni De Biasi said after Saturday's game.

Cana was booked for a foul in the 23rd minute and then picked up another for unwisely handling the ball at the top of the box to prevent Haris Seferovic from racing through on goal.

De Biasi said the sending off was the right call and had no criticism for Spanish referee Carlos Velasco Carballo.

"We felt the emotion during the game, but when it comes down to the referee, I don't think there was a problem with that," De Biasi said. "I think he tried to let the game flow and that was very important.

"It was a very fair sending-off. Lorik really will feel upset that he won't play against France, but I think if he'd been a bit more switched-on and not picked up the first yellow card that would've been great. I think he felt a little overwhelmed.

"It was disappointing but he couldn't do anything about it."

De Biasi said Switzerland's early strike -- Fabian Schar scored the only goal in the fifth minute -- undid his plans for the game.

"As I said yesterday [Friday], we needed to make a good start. That wasn't necessarily what happened," he said. "I think we really felt the pressure from a mental perspective.

"We didn't play as I expected in the first 20 minutes and everything is more difficult when you concede. I think the key moments were the goal, Lorik Cana's dismissal and our three chances, especially the one at the end from Shkelzen Gashi. We didn't have any luck with the key incidents.

"In the second half we had these incredible chances which we should have used better, but matches are determined by fine margins. We conceded a crazy goal. There was a host of strange situations, and we couldn't make the most of the chances that we normally do."

Albania's task will only get tougher as they face hosts France in their second game in Group A.

"We need to leave this behind in the dressing room. What I said to the players can be very important for the coming days," he said.

"Clearly France are the favourites but we'll try to repeat our past positive results and see if we're still in it come the Romania game."

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