Jovicic: Two countries – France and Ukraine – are not on an equal footing, and we must accept this as real fighters

Head coach Shakhtar Igor Jovicevich spoke about the preparation of the team for the match of 1/16 finals of the Europa League against Rennes. According to him, the opponents are not on equal terms before the game.

“It is a privilege that we are here, at the same stadium in Warsaw. This means that we have gone a certain positive way to continue to be in the Europa League, knowing which teams did not make it to this stage. Let me give you one example: Atlético Madrid. Or Barcelona plays in the same tournament. This is proof that the stability and movement of the team is increasing and so is the confidence. And those dreams with which we started this season, they remain. And we want to stay in this tournament as long as possible. Playing in the Champions League and the Europa League for a few months means a lot for us, for the new team that met six months ago. And we don’t want to stop, we want to think that the impossible can be possible.”

“Yes, we are not on an equal footing, but in general life is not developing on an equal footing now. Two countries – France and Ukraine – are not on an equal footing, and we must take this as real fighters. Of course, Rennes continues the championship, they are in a different tone – they played the last match four days ago. We played our last match on November 23 against Vorskla, and this is quite a long time without official fights.

For us, this will be a rather uncertain situation: on the one hand, there is a lack of match practice at this level, because there are only Turkish training camps, friendly games, on the other hand, we can compensate for this handicap with insane motivation and unity that have characterized us over the past six months. So uncertainty just motivates. This is what I call fear. Journalists know because I have repeatedly spoken about this fear. But this is not the fear that blocks, but the one that sets you up with greater concentration for the next game, opponent, stress. And we want to feel it again tomorrow.”

“We are talking about Rennes, who before the World Cup were one of the best teams in Europe in terms of form. The statistics themselves show this: they were unbeaten in 17 matches in a row and were at the top of the top 5 leagues in the French championship. On the other hand, from the World Cup until today, they have a small crisis in the results, where not everything turned out the way they used to. Of course, we also want to take advantage of this. However, I cited two factors – this is the lack of our tone, which we will compensate for 100 percent with motivation and desire. We have not played official matches for a long time, and starting in the Europa League is an increase in motivation and character in order to show our best qualities tomorrow, ”Jovicevic said.

The Shakhtar vs Rennes match will take place on February 16 in Warsaw at the Polish Army Stadium. The meeting starts at 19:45 Kyiv time. The fight will be judged by the Bosnian team of judges headed by Ilfan Pelto.

The second leg will take place in France on February 23. The match starts at 22:00 Kyiv time.