On Tuesday, August 23, in the return leg of the Champions League qualifying playoff round, Dynamo Kyiv lost away to Benfica Lisbon with a score of 0:3 and were eliminated from the tournament by the sum of two meetings (0:2, 0:3). Your attention is the post-match press conference of the head coach of the Ukrainian team Mircea Lucescu.
Mircea Lucescu- We have no problems with Benfica, we have a big problem with the situation as a whole. You can't make as many mistakes as we did today.
Benfica are much stronger than Dynamo. We involve young players from the club's Academy to play, but they are not yet ready for matches of this level. Look who played today in our defense: 19-year-old Zabarny, 20-year-old Vivcharenko, 21-year-old Sirota.
I have already said before: Benfica are much stronger than our team. And today there was a clear demonstration of this. The result could even be 6:0 in favor of Benfica. The difference between the teams is very big.
It is difficult to comment on such mistakes that we made. The first goal is a small mistake, but the second and third goals are very serious mistakes.
Benfica deserved to win, they are better than us. My congratulations to the opponent, I wish Benfica a successful game in the Champions League group stage. This is a very good team. She plays football of a very high level - dynamic, organized. Benfica were much stronger than Dynamo. The team deserved this result.
Our footballers have not been at home for two months, they have not seen their families. We live in a very difficult situation. It is very difficult to find another team that would be in the same situation.
Now we are starting the championship of Ukraine. In this tournament, we will also play with 18-year-old and 20-year-old players in the roster. It is not simple. But I'm not looking for excuses. Benfica were much stronger than Dynamo in both matches. At the same time, in these meetings, I think we did the impossible.
— What do you expect from this difficult season?
- Only one thing: continue to play football and live. This is important for a country that wants to survive. Sports results in this situation fade into the background. It is very important not to give up, to continue playing in the Ukrainian championship.
On Wednesday we will go to Lviv (On Sunday, Dynamo will play the match of the 2nd round of the Ukrainian Championship here with Dnipro-1, - ed.). Later we will move to Kyiv. This is a large number of hours of travel by bus. Then we will return to Europe. It is very difficult. In the meantime, I hope that our players will recover psychologically after today's match.
- What are the prospects for Dynamo in the Ukrainian championship?
- We have lost important football players - Tsygankov, Popov, Garmash, Andrievsky. But they will recover. These are experienced footballers, our team needs their help. Especially in this difficult time.
— How do you assess the competition with Shakhtar?
— Do not compare Shakhtar with Dynamo. The Donetsk club has the opportunity to acquire players. For example, Shakhtar managed to buy Neres, who played today. This is an incredible player.
Dynamo, on the other hand, plays with Ukrainian players in the squad, with their pupils. It's not easy. Football needs players from other cultures, from other countries. This creates very good competition. And when you play with the only students of the club, it is very difficult to create a competitive spirit of the required level.
It's a pity that Shakhtar lost their legionnaires in the current situation. But this year will be difficult for everyone. We do not know where we will play, how, under what conditions, whether there will be shelling, bombs. But we must keep playing. This is very important for everyone!
Alexander Popov
