Shakhtar’s head coach promised to study the Ukrainian for six months

Journalists asked Marino Pusic before the Barcelona game about his level of knowledge of the state language.

Marino Pusic promised journalists to hold press conferences in Ukrainian for six months. Shakhtar’s new head coach said this before the match against Barcelona in the Champions League. In addition, the specialist said that he has already decided on the starting lineup for the upcoming game.

– There are important players in the starting lineup of the last game. Unfortunately, they are not here today. I am very confident that those who will replace them will play well. Our team is getting better every day, I see the abilities of different players, I create my plan in my head. To be honest, I already know who will replace them. But I can’t tell you now.

– This is your first opportunity to travel with the team to a home match, taking place away from home. How’s this?

– It’s a long journey. You can’t call it a home game because we were on the road for hours to get to our destination. This, of course, requires adaptation, requires being strong in spirit – and I see it in my team. We are happy to be here, with time for a short training session to prepare for tomorrow. But honestly, it’s definitely not ideal when you have to travel for a long time. This was my first experience, or even my second, because we came back after the Barcelona match. But this is the first experience with such a game ahead – it is special. But we’re not here to complain, we’re here to compete. And all this. We’re not here to complain about the long journey or that we’re wasting a lot of time or not doing extra training or anything like that. We are not complaining, we came here to fight and play this match.

– You took over a team that lost its home in Donetsk nine years ago. You didn’t play there. How do you feel about leading a team that is left without its home stadium and its fans?

– If this is our only problem… Unfortunately, there is a war, and this is the most important thing. I hope this will be over soon. And, of course, these conditions force us not to play at home, but to travel a lot, as I already said. And not easy. But in this club I feel the character, the fighting spirit, the organization, I see people working hard and how they are like family to each other, they support each other in these difficult situations to find the best way in this situation. And I was very amazed at this, not easy, but I was amazed at this general condition.

– Greetings from the Netherlands! How was your move from Feyenoord to Shakhtar? What was that experience like and what challenges do you face now?

– Everything happens very quickly, I have to adapt very quickly, and I do it. I’m not the type of person to focus on problems, I’m always thinking about solutions and possibilities, this gives me energy and allows me to focus on the job I’ve hired. Actually, that’s all. I never think about problems because there are many of them, but if you focus on the situation as it is, on players with good characters, it gives you focus and energy. And I also want to transfer this energy to the team. We don’t talk about problems.

– What is your level of knowledge of the Ukrainian language?

– I understand about 30 percent, I can read and I will speak even better – give me six months, and we will talk in Ukrainian next time.

– Shakhtar hired a coach from the Netherlands last summer, they didn’t play much with him. Dutch school – Shakhtar’s new style?

“I think that in football in general, in the whole world, we can no longer give names to schools. This school is known for its attacking style of play. In my opinion, it has always been a personal coach’s choice, because we are all different, and of course this is the main part: the attacking style of play, as well as the development of the young players, which is important. I think it applies to all of us , everyone has their own view of the game and other such things. It is not unique to any country, it does not only exist within its borders, it is everywhere. I like attacking football, high pressing and team effort, so we try to improve the team and individual players. Of course, I have to say that I was influenced by this school, obviously, but there are personal differences.

– We know from reputable sources that you study your next opponents in detail, including watching a large number of matches. How many Barcelona matches have you watched before tomorrow’s game? And what will help Shakhtar get a positive result?

– Long journeys help here: there is enough time on the bus or plane to watch a lot of games. But overall, I watch them often. This is how I work and how I try to prepare my team. Like every team, we know the strength of Barcelona – they are a great club. In my opinion, one of the best in Europe. Playing against such a team is always a big challenge. We already met a week ago, we felt their strength, but also their weaknesses, so our job is to find them again, try to use the analysis and fight, as I already said. For us it’s a game, we have nothing to lose. I just want my team to come out, let us fight, work on our aspects and fundamentals of the game again. We’ll see where it takes us, but I want us to be brave and do our best in this game.

– What can you say about Bondarenko and Hemp? Why won’t they play?

– I have already said that these are good, young, talented and intelligent football players. They are very important to us and we want them to come out tomorrow, but they are not in the lineup, so there is no point in thinking about it. I move quickly in these situations. If the players can’t play, you won’t change anything. I had to come up with a plan with someone I trusted a lot, to think about the game without two players. What can I say? They are young, promising, talented and smart, with a bright future. We are very busy today, but there is nothing we can do. We are a big club and we want to compete at a certain level. We have a tough schedule, but we are here to fight. In this game, you don’t need to spend a lot of energy as a coach, because the players themselves are very serious, they understand how difficult the opponent is, everyone wants to show themselves tomorrow, so we are really looking forward to the match this.

– Two weeks ago you had your debut match in Barcelona. Tomorrow we will see another Shakhtar, because you had time to work with the team. But we also cannot say that now is the best time for Barcelona: they lost in El Clasico and did not perform very well against Real Sociedad on Saturday. Do you think you have a better chance of winning?

– Each battle always has its own strength. This is a new game. It is almost impossible to compare the match we played two weeks ago and the one we will play today. We had time to work together. Of course, it’s not that long, just a week. To be honest, we didn’t train often and not that extensively, but in the matches we practiced some principles that I would like to see again tomorrow. I do not fully believe when they say that a certain team is not at its best at a certain moment, because every time it is a different game. Barcelona have an amazing number of talented players and they can make a lot of changes. But we are here to compete. I want to see the implementation of our hard work in training. We’ll see how it all works out. Any team can lose a classic, the chances are always 50 to 50. I wouldn’t say they went through a difficult time. It is possible to draw a difficult fight. They continue to fight for the championship and are now in third place. I know this is a very good team. It doesn’t change my opinion.

We remind you that the match between Shakhtar and Barcelona will take place on Tuesday, November 7. The starting whistle is scheduled for 19:45 Kyiv time.

Earlier, the Pitmen announced their bid for the Champions League game with Barcelona.

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