The draw for the play-offs of the European Cup tournaments took place. Shakhtar Donetsk will play against French Rennes in the Europa League, while SC Dnipro-1 will face AEK Cyprus in the Conference League. Former forward of the Ukrainian national team Andriy Vorobei shared his opinion about these confrontations.
"I got the impression that the opponents of Ukrainian clubs are walking in circles," said Vorobei. — "Fenerbahce" twice, "Rennes" with "Dynamo" in the group, "AEK" already for the third time - an amazing situation (smiles).
In my opinion, the draw was successful for Shakhtar, as well as for its opponent. In France, they may think that the Ukrainian team is like a "sweet bun" for them.
The matches against "Dynamo" showed that "Rennes" is a team of a good level, experienced, played, fast. However, for the "miners" this opponent is quite passable, taking into account at least how Igor Jovichevich's wards performed in the group round of the Champions League.
First of all, this is a challenge for Shakhtar's coaching staff. We don't know how the team's winter training will go. Of course, the French will be slightly in a winning position, but this will not be the main trump card in the confrontation.
Yes, the people of Donetsk will not have enough game practice, but it is important that the team approaches these matches in optimal physical condition. Now it is difficult to predict something, now the chances of rivals are equal.
And as for Dnipro-1, this is, one might say, fate (smiles). Without a doubt, the Dnipros have a tooth for their rival, who knocked them out of the Europa League. This confrontation will be all the more interesting.
Oleksandr Kucher's wards became more experienced, somewhat angry. Yes, then "AEK" was stronger than "Dnipro-1" and "Dynamo". This indicates that the Cyprus Championship is currently on the rise.
But at the same time, we should not forget the condition we are in because of the war. In addition, Ukrainian clubs play their home matches abroad. This is a big disadvantage for us, and the opponents get an advantage.
If we talk about the chances, they are also 50-50, because we do not know in what form the opponents will approach the confrontation. If the teams were to meet tomorrow, I would definitely give the preference to Dnipro-1, which has now made a decent run, Vorobei said.