Shakhtar Donetsk head coach assistant Yuriy Benyo on how the option of working with the Pitmen appeared, as well as on building the team's game without its legionnaires.
“The offer from Shakhtar became for me and Igor Jovichevich (the new head coach of Shakhtar, - ed.) unexpected news. At that time, we fully planned the preparation of Dnipro-1 for the season, agreed on the training camp. And so, a week before the first gathering, an offer was received. It was unexpected. Despite the rumors, there was nothing concrete.
The process of building a team game as the coach sees it is not a quick one. But I think everyone knows the Jovicevic style: it is a dominant style in which we have to dictate the conditions on the field, not the opponent.
As for the work in the conditions of the outflow of all Brazilian legionnaires from Shakhtar (12 Brazilians left the Donetsk team - ed.), then this was one of the reasons why we ended up here. This is a very big challenge for us in our coaching career, because we understand that the loss of such a large number of Brazilians is very significant. Such a loss would be very significant for any club, not only for Shakhtar. Moreover, for a long period of time these players were the face of the team, the defining performers on which the entire attack was built. But personally, I love such challenges - it's boring to live without them," Beno said in a comment to the Pitmen's press service.