On Wednesday, July 20, in the first match of the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League, Dynamo Kyiv tied with Turkish Fenerbahce with a score of 0:0. The meeting was held in Lodz at the LKS stadium. Your attention is the post-match press conference of the head coach of the Ukrainian team Mircea Lucescu.
Mircea Lucescu. Photo - Y. YuryevMircea LUCHESCU, Dynamo head coach:
— Are you satisfied with the performance of your team?
- This was the first official match for us in the last eight months. It was not easy, because before we played only friendly matches. Also, the difficulty was that we did not know our potential at the moment. We did not dare to take risks in this situation. The match turned out to be equal, with a normal result, because both teams could have scored.
We were aware of the high level of Fenerbahce, which did a good job in the transfer market, acquiring good players. But we still had to play with them, despite this, as well as the difficult situation in Ukraine.
I think the score 0:0 is a positive result. We will go to the away match to win, because they will have to take risks to score. Today they also did it, but we have the opportunity to achieve a good result.
It’s a pity that we received three yellow cards, I think the players didn’t deserve them in those situations, but it’s okay, I repeat, it was only our first match.
- Should we expect a strengthening of the squad before the second leg?
- Not. Who will come to play in Ukraine now? Nobody. We must use those who are. In this match, we saw our potential, and everything will be fine in the second leg.
- Fenerbahce coach Jorge Jesus started making substitutions already at half-time, why did you wait until the 77th minute?
- Because I didn't want to take risks in the current situation. I know very well the abilities of my players and the team. The guys are well organized. In addition, Fenerbahce has 30 players, and we only have 20 - that's the problem.
- Why was there a hitch during the replacement of Karavaev?
— There was an error, but it did not affect anything, because there were a couple of minutes left before the end of the game. I wanted him to play defensively, because he interacts very well with Tsygankov. But at the same time, Tsygankov and Buyalsky did not look very good physically.
— What do you think about the atmosphere in the stands during the match?
- It was good, but I expected that more people would come to our match, after all, this is a match of the initial stage of the Champions League. Perhaps this is the most important match in the qualification. But, I repeat, those Dynamo and Fenerbahce fans who gathered in the stands provided a wonderful atmosphere.
