The head coach of Gornyakov expects the team to be bolder and angrier in attacks
Main coach Shakhtar Igor Jovicevich spoke about the preparation of the team for the duel with Real Madrid in the fourth round Champions League. According to him, the Miners’ motivation is influenced by the tragic events in Ukraine due to massive shelling by Russian troops.
“We will win. It is impossible to destroy us, our spirit, unity. It is possible to temporarily spoil the mood, but it is impossible to destroy us. Together we are strong. We, the athletes, take this as a shared responsibility, we accept everything that happens in the country and have great empathy. Many of my football players have families in Ukraine, and this affects us, but it will not destroy our morale. We will fight as the Armed Forces fight for us and for our freedom. This is the minimum way we can show our respect by fighting in tomorrow’s game from the first to the last minute.”
“Every team that competes at the highest level has a top goalkeeper. It would be difficult for Real Madrid to win the Champions League without Thibault Courtois. Just as important is Anatoliy Trubin for us, in order to achieve the lofty goals that Shakhtar sets for itself. And the game that he demonstrated at the Santiago Bernabeu is his business card at the European level. It is possible that the Bernabéu saw him only now in this light, but we see Trubin playing like this often. His position and status in the national team is also proof of his talent. I’m sure he’ll have a great career. In general, he is top. Just like Courtois.”
“On Tuesday everyone will be Ukrainians. And Taylor, and me, and Lassina Traore, and Jurasek. All are Ukrainians tomorrow. And there will be 40 million more Ukrainians. And another 10 million abroad.”
“We are focused on progress. We found ourselves in a specific situation, and this motivates us to improve our game and demonstrate that we have a good young team. We are building a foundation for the future, but we live in a difficult time for Ukraine. We play home league matches in Lviv, we host Champions League games here, and we have to travel a lot for European cup matches. We are constantly on the road and constantly moving, of course, fatigue against this background is felt. We have almost no days off due to constant travel. Our preparation is fundamentally different from the usual preparation of other teams for the Champions League matches. However, we have a strong mentality, we continue to be focused and want to show the whole world that we are a young and good team.
This situation is not for life, it has to end. I don’t just want to say this in an interview and go train, I want to give you a signal to help us end this war! You see what’s happening now, and it’s terrible. Now we are not talking about football, but about life in general. You want to be free, you want to sleep peacefully, and I also want to sleep without bombs. Help us, it’s important!”
“We have one view of these events. You just look the guys in the eyes and support them. We are all together and perfectly understand the current situation. However, we are stronger together. Everyone has a family, everyone worries about her, but we must overcome this obstacle. We don’t give up. In the evening we will all be together in training, because we still have to be focused on tomorrow’s match. We must play it and play at such a level that all of Ukraine is proud of us. And the minimum that they will see tomorrow is a brave Shakhtar who will fight for points.
Everyone wants to see a team that plays well, creates chances, acts aggressively. But what happened before the match, many people forget. Only we know that.”
“Tomorrow we have a big day, a very important match. The last match showed that we can play good football with the Champions League winner, the best team in Europe. We have 90 minutes of the second match ahead of us, and anything can happen. We should show the highest level on Tuesday, having made some adjustments after the last game. We must be even bolder, even more angry in the attack. We need to fix some problems inside the field, where we need to establish a good movement of the ball. Because we know Real Madrid is very, very dangerous in advancing the ball.”
“In general, we have to be ourselves. We have to play the way we play in the league, as we played in the first game against Real Madrid, especially in the second half, when we created two or three chances at the Bernabéu and saw what we could do. We have to be competent tomorrow and I hope it will be a good game for us.”
Earlier, Igor Yovichevich commented on the massive shelling of Ukrainian cities by Russian troops. The players worry about their families in Ukraine, but are ready to represent the Ukrainian people on the field.
The match against Real Madrid will take place in Warsaw on Tuesday 11 October. The meeting starts at 22:00 Kyiv time. The match will be judged by a team of referees from Israel headed by Orel Grinfeld.
Source: Sportarena
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
