Pusic: Our team spirit, our work rate was great this evening

Head coach Shakhtar Marino Pusic after defeating Young Boys (2:1) in the fourth round of the group stage of the Champions League, he focused on the amount of work his players had done.

“Yes, we never change our style. Of course, there are always certain details during the game when we adapt to certain circumstances or situations, but that’s how we play. As I said, this is our problem – we make the game interesting until the end, without converting our good chances, but we create them, and that’s important.”

“In many moments we come out and play quality football. I also enjoyed the game from the outside, except for the last five minutes, but it was very interesting because the opponents have a lot of physicality, play very vertically and try to catch us with chaotic goals. But again, our team spirit, our work rate was great this evening and I’m very proud of this performance.”

“We can finish the game much earlier. But, you know, this is football. We have a lot of young, talented players and not every chance can be a goal. It is very important to me as a coach that we create opportunities – and how we create them is the basis for development and achievement at a high level. But all our forwards work very hard without the ball, so I praise them for that part of the game too.”

“It’s always easier when you score faster and create a difference of two goals, but I must say that we were losing 0:1 through a bad moment, trying to build an attack from our own goal – that’s what I wanted, so it’s not Bondarenko’s fault, but my. If you want to blame someone, blame me, because I gave my players such a task. But after that moment we continued to play as always, the way we wanted to: play inside the field and look for opportunities to score. And we bounced back very well right away, in the same half where we were losing 0:1.”

“So I’m very proud of my players, their mental strength. Not only the fortitude that they have shown now, but also the fortitude throughout this entire period, because many of you know or do not know that we work and live under normal conditions, especially as footballers and professionals: the moves that we we have to do, the effort we have to put in… Overall, it’s really incredible what these guys show every day, so I’m really proud of them.”

“When you don’t take advantage of your opportunities, you don’t score the third goal, and we were looking for opportunities to score it, it’s still a game for a one-goal difference and the opponent is still fighting. And you know that in the last few minutes they will use all their physical players and it will be a power play. We dealt with it quite well, there were some clashes in front of goal but no big chances because we didn’t allow the finish, which was very good on our part. And this is a logical part of the game. But it’s not because of the opponent.”

“If you score the third goal, the game is over. Although, I think we had the ball in their half for I don’t know how long – about two minutes. Yes, this moment is exciting, very stressful, but we were organized, disciplined and did our best. Great performance from my players.”

The guests managed to score first; Kastriot Imeri scored. Just four minutes later, the Miners got even – Alexander Zubkov closed in Georgiy Sudakov’s cross and scored Shakhtar’s first goal in the current Champions League.

Later, Sudakov himself, after a combination with Eguinaldo, brought the Ukrainian club ahead. Until the end of the match, Shakhtar managed to maintain a minimal advantage. Georgiy was recognized as the best player of the match.

After four rounds, Marino Pusic’s team has four scoring points and is in 28th position. On November 27, the Miners will hold an away meeting with PSV.