Oleksandr Zinchenko has explained he endured the 'most difficult' days of his career after Manchester City's Champions League defeat.
While it was reported that Zinchenko could have been sold ahead of the Blues' 2020/21 Premier League winning campaign, the versatile 24-year-old instead tenaciously forced himself back into Pep Guardiola 's plans.
Zinchenko has excelled at City this term and he was seemingly at the top of the pecking order at left-back towards the end of the season, with Guardiola trusting him in that role in the second leg of the semi-final and the final of the Champions League.
That game against Chelsea in Porto didn't go to plan for City, though, and Zinchenko, speaking at a press conference at this summer's European Championship, has revealed he struggled to come to terms with the 1-0 defeat.
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"I will speak for myself. I had a long season, a lot of games, I can say about some fatigue," Zinchenko said.
"But I do not like to look for excuses, because this is the fate of the weak ones. I always like to look for reasons only in myself. Yes, I had a difficult period after the Champions League final, it was some of the most difficult days in my football life.
"But from the first day in the national team I switched my attention to Euro. The European Championship was a new goal and motivation for me. I tried and still trying to give my best. Unfortunately, these are not my best games for the national team.
"I feel physically normal, it's more a matter of psychology. I want to understand what the problem is, what is the cause of these failures."
