Shakhtar's head coach Ihor Jovicevich said that he thinks about a possible air raid during the match of the 1st round of the Ukrainian Championship against Metalist 1925.
Igor Yovichevich. Photo: shakhtar.com“How to set up a team to play when there is a war? Of course it's hard. This is an unusual situation. I don't know if there is such a thing in the world. We'll see how it will be. We have a desire to show that life goes on. If there is an alarm during the match tomorrow, we will see what we will do, how we will finish the match, how long it will last or the match will be postponed to the next day, how we will get to the venue of the match when the Champions League starts. Logistics plays a very important role here.
We should all be like one family. Football can take people away from their busy lives a little, and we help them with this. It’s hard for us too, we are people too. But we want to give the fans a result, to bring them joy. Of course, I have intrinsic motivation that drives me forward. One of the factors is the Champions League, where Shakhtar plays. This is a dream I have been working towards for a long time. The players who are now in the team really wanted to be at Shakhtar and make a new Shakhtar.
The generation change that is taking place at Shakhtar at such a time is a very big plus in the mentality of the team to make a new Shakhtar. There was a Brazilian Shakhtar for a long time and this is how the team was perceived in the world. It was the top team. But we should already forget it. We must speed up the process of training the team so that it meets the highest requirements. This takes time, and I am sure that you will understand this, ”Jovicevic said.
