Coleman rubbishes ´lucky´ claim

Wales manager Chris Coleman hit back at Austria boss Marcel Koller, dismissing claims his team were lucky at Euro 2016.

Speaking ahead of the World Cup qualifier between the teams on Thursday, Koller had said Wales – who remarkably reached the semi-finals in France – were fortunate.

Coleman rubbished that suggestion, though, saying their run was down to the quality of the team.

“I wouldn’t put our semi-final achievement down to luck,” he said, via The Guardian.

“You can get lucky over 90 minutes sometimes but you don’t achieve a semi-final by being lucky, that’s for sure.

“We had a little bit of luck here and there, we had bad luck. But the reason for our achievements is because we’re a good team.”

Wales top Group D in qualifying, with Coleman’s men and Austria locked on three points.

Coleman said his team had managed to deal with the enormity of the European Championship, whereas others failed.

“A lot of teams went into the tournament with big reputations because they had fantastic campaigns, but they couldn’t handle the pressure,” he said.

“Our players handled the pressure, so that’s not luck.”

After visiting Vienna on Thursday, Wales host Georgia in Cardiff three days later.