Well-known Ukrainian coach Vyacheslav Grozny assessed the prospects of Shakhtar Donetsk in the group stage of the Champions League. As a reminder, according to the results of the draw for this stage of the tournament held yesterday, the Pitmen will play in the same group with Real Madrid, Scottish Celtic and German RB Leipzig.
Vyacheslav GroznyEurocup pique
- Let's be objective - against the background of all the current difficulties, all our teams in European competitions are having a hard time. We do not play full-fledged home matches, it is very difficult to prepare, almost all legionnaires have left. Dynamo should be given credit for passing Fenerbahce with Sturm, but Kiev had no chance against the first truly top team, and Dnipro-1, which is in the process of building a new team, had nothing was able to counter the well-coordinated game of AEK, also Vorskla with Zorya.
Of all the current Ukrainian participants in the European Cups, the head coach has not changed only in Dynamo, where the most experienced Mircea Lucescu has remained at his post, which to some extent makes it easier for the people of Kiev in the group stage of the Europa League. Moreover, Dynamo, before everyone else, began to trust their young pupils and somewhere already “recaptured” them through European Cup matches.
"The Champions League is super strong this season"
— But back to Shakhtar. The Champions League this year, I think, is simply super-strong. It would hardly be better to be in the same group H as PSG with Juventus or group C in the company of Bayern with Barcelona. Similarly, G - Manchester City, Sevilla or E - Milan, Chelsea. In any case, the lineups of quartets are strong everywhere, wherever you go, it will be very difficult for any team everywhere. Including Shakhtar, because the young guys did not play at this level. We saw test matches with the same Ajax, Roma, and here are the official games.
“It’s unrealistic with Real Madrid, the rest are tough”
- "Real" does not need to be introduced once again, here it is definitely the first place in the group. Yes, they lost Casemiro, who did all the rough work in the team - belaying, cleaning. They took Tchuameni, a number of other guys, they continue to look for a player in this zone, maybe they will find it, maybe not. But in any case, Madrid are the winners of the Champions League, and Carlo Ancelotti is the best coach, who is absolutely rightly recognized as the best coach of the past season by UEFA. Yes, we remember how Shakhtar beat Real Madrid, but objectively the class of this team is such that the "creamy" ones can continue to fight to retain the Champions League title. Although PSG, Manchester City and Bayern will strongly disagree with this.
But you can fight against RB Leipzig. The team is now in 11th place, lost a number of players, at the same time, Timo Werner returned, which is definitely a serious improvement. You can play with them, Shakhtar control the ball better, but you need to be ready for the vertical play that Domenico Tedesco prefers. According to the results of the last Bundesliga championship, Leipzig took 4th place, in this they have not beaten anyone yet, the team enters the season with a creak. So you can play with RB Leipzig.
Celtic are national champions. This team is characterized, first of all, by character, martial arts. Last year they fought for the Champions League, but did not pass the Danish Midtjylland, and then took third place in the company of Ferencváros, Betis and Bayer Leverkusen.
In any case, RB Leipzig or Celtic are tough for us. If Shakhtar managed to keep all the players, then they could be at least second in this group. Now it will be much more difficult, because you need to play in an extremely organized manner, and the coach will have to stage the game with the players who are. Those who came, the same Zubkov, must be brought to a common denominator. It is necessary that Traore recover quickly, because we need a striker who will score. Yes, Mudrik is growing and progressing, there are other good guys, the same Bondarenko. I think that this Champions League can give impetus to the new Shakhtar, which is being created now, in the current circumstances.
"Playing until winter in Poland, we could save foreigners"
— Of course, this Euroseason could have started in a different state. I will say, perhaps, an unpopular thing, but I was a supporter of starting this championship of Ukraine later, plus holding at least its first part in Poland. Then we would have been able to keep all the foreigners with whom we would have played in the Champions League. And against the backdrop of FIFA's decision on the right of players to leave for other teams, it would be possible to automatically renew contracts with them, if they are not for sale, for a loan period.
Well, the general situation itself. Take the same Rukh match with Metalist, which, due to the air raid, lasted, in total, about 4 hours. And how many more such matches can there be. Of course, playing in Poland in such a situation would be much more comfortable for the same legionnaires. Moreover, we have European cups to play there. And the importance of experienced legionnaires also lies in the fact that our guys grow professionally next to them. The same Mudryk at Shakhtar began to open up when foreigners were playing, and he grew and progressed in competition with them. Now, by the way, he has a very good chance to show his best side and get on a pencil with representatives of top Western clubs.
"A minimum of information is our trump card"
- In any case, the current Shakhtar has its own advantage - the team itself does not yet know its full potential. We understand what to expect from Real Madrid, which can put up a mixed squad, as well as Leipzig and Celtic, which, most likely, will come out with the most basic squad. Plus, their representatives will study Shakhtar on television, of course, no one will come to us in the current situation, and accordingly, they will have little information. But what can I say if Jovichevich himself still does not fully represent the potential of his wards. So the status of a "dark horse" may be to Shakhtar's advantage.
Evgeny Savchuk
