Last Wednesday, Shakhtar Donetsk played a draw with Real Madrid (1:1) in the match of the 4th round of the Champions League group stage. The fight took place in Warsaw. Your attention to the post-match comments of the head coaches of the teams that met.
Igor Jovicevich, Shakhtar head coach: “The players are upset, sad, but if you are sad that you didn’t beat Real Madrid, then this means that we are on a good track. The project that we started three months ago did not even look like a project, and now we are fighting on equal terms with the best club in the world - this is only the merit of the players.
I enjoyed every second of the match, looking at the team, looking at the young guys. How they fight is what I was talking about: in such a difficult time, they are fighting for the entire Ukrainian people. From the point of view of the result, this is football, and we must accept this as an integral part of football.
But in terms of the game itself, as Carlo Ancelotti himself personally told me, we deserved to win today. And, especially, such an opportunity that Traore had - it's a pity that it was not possible to realize it. You go to 2:0 and end the match. Individuality, bravery, courage, determination against such an opponent in most of the time of the match - this pleases me as a coach. There is a saying: From zero to hero. They started from scratch and became heroes. These are truly heroes. For me, they are heroes.
One point, but over time you will see that this is a huge point. I now have the feeling that we have lost two points, and this is true. When you get scored in the last seconds, it's frustrating. But what you said is also true: before the match, who would have thought about this point? You think about winning like an athlete, but you always understand who you are playing against. So, in general, both in building an attack, and with the ball, and without the ball, we drew conclusions from the last match, from the jitters that was at the Bernabéu, and made adjustments. And it was much easier to play, because we felt the stadium, the support of the fans, which carried us and added adrenaline.
We were much more compact, we played quite solidly in defense, except for that last episode, which is more an accident than some kind of combined action. It's a pity, but this is a very important point for us, given that Celtic lost to Leipzig. Now they will have to go to Madrid to Real Madrid, and we have big enough chances to get out of the group if we continue to play the same way. This is our best game, absolutely the best game in the three months since the start of a new project. This is just our bright future.
This is our best game. We started the project with Shakhtar practically from scratch, without the Brazilians, and now we have a powerful team that can compete on equal terms with the strongest club in the world. In the dressing room, we are upset because we lost two points, conceding a goal in the last minute. I am satisfied with the level of play of our attack. Yes, I can't be happy about this draw, but the project continues, and we continue to fight in the Champions League, build a team and fight on.
I think we deserved to win - not by chance, but by the game. I am grateful to the guys for today's game. They made many, many people proud in Ukraine and at the stadium. Over time, we will notice how important this point is. Now everyone is sad in the locker room. There is a feeling that they lost two points. But this is football - sometimes you score in the last seconds, sometimes you. It's a pity, a pity, but we must move on. If we play like this for a long time, we will be competitive with strong teams. The project has a very big future. And, I say, the absolute thrill is today's game. I think everyone can be proud of what they showed on the football field.”
Carlo Ancelotti, head coach of Real Madrid: “Rüdiger scored a very important goal for us, he was smiling and in a good mood. Generally speaking, I like our line of play, but we played poorly this night. It happens in football, but now we fought to the end to reach the playoffs of the Champions League.
Shakhtar played powerfully in the middle line. The opponent looked well-coordinated and closed in the center of the field - it was hard for us to play.
We played badly. Although, the first half turned out to be quite good for us: we controlled the game, looking for chances. Then Shakhtar scored a goal, and we lost our balance - it happens sometimes, and it's hard for me to explain the reason. Shakhtar played well in defense, it was hard for us to find their weaknesses. On the one hand, we showed a bad game, and on the other hand, we reached the 1/8 finals of the Champions League - this is a very good result, as we can win the tournament again."
