Rob Page suggested Wales’ Euro 2024 qualifying defeat to Armenia was a necessary “slap” as he surveyed the wreckage of one of the most humiliating losses in the nation’s football history.
Armenia ran out shock 4-2 winners in Cardiff, despite being ranked 97th in the world and 71 places lower than Wales.
Page’s side – who took four points from their March games away to Croatia and at home to Latvia – would have topped Group D with victory in Cardiff.
Instead a first European Championship qualifying defeat at home since 2011 dropped them to third in the group as Turkey won 3-2 in Latvia. Wales’ next qualifier is away to Turkey in Samsun on Monday.
“They fell well short of the standards they have set before,” said Page. “I didn’t see that coming. It has really shocked me.
“Everything happens for a reason, perhaps it’s the slap we need, a little bit of a reality check.
“Everybody is starry-eyed and getting carried away. Yes, we had a great start in March but there are no bad teams now anymore.
“Look at what Turkey had to do in the 96th minute against Latvia.”
Daniel James’ sixth international goal fired Wales into an early lead, but Armenia exploited some dreadful home defending to lead by the half-hour mark through Lucas Zelarayan and Grant-Leon Ranos.
Armenia extended their lead through Ranos before Harry Wilson reduced the deficit with 18 minutes to play.
Ranos hit the post before Zelarayan’s second killed off Wales and home misery was completed 12 minutes from time when Kieffer Moore was sent off for a kick on goalkeeper Ognjen Chancharevich.
Page confirmed that Wales would not appeal Moore’s red card and the Bournemouth striker will now miss the Turkey game.
“I felt such in a positive place before the game, full of confidence and I didn’t see that coming,” Page said.
“That’s really shocked me as much as anyone else.
“The fundamentals of what we stand for, what we represent, the hard work…we were too expansive and that’s not what we’re all about.
“We’re hard-working and we pride ourselves in doing the not-so-pretty side of it.
“They taught us a lesson in that, how to do the not-so-pretty side of the game.”
Victory was especially sweet for Armenia manager Oleksandr Petrakov, who was in charge of Ukraine for their World Cup play-off final defeat in Cardiff exactly 12 months ago.
Petrakov said: “We have a game in Latvia in three days so if we go on celebrating, this victory will not mean anything.
“It’s more or less the same Wales team apart from Gareth Bale so I can not under-estimate the valuation of my team.
“My only objective as Armenia coach is to is to qualify for a major tournament.”
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
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