The head coach of Shakhtar Donetsk Igor Jovicevich speaks about his team's victory over Veres Rivne (2:0) in yesterday's away match of the 12th round of the Ukrainian Championship.
“When you win, there are more emotions. The result of the game, we deserved even more than 2:0, as we had more possession of the ball and completely dominated. The structure of the game after losing the ball was also good, we showed respect for Veres, so the match turned out to be serious.
By moments, the score could have been more. But I am more pleased with how we create these moments, and individual completion will come with time. It is impossible to score all points. I repeat: it is important for me that the team creates the precondition for the last blow. Perhaps in the first half, sometimes we wanted to go into the goal with the ball, instead of serving, winning rebounds, shooting with a long-range shot at a second pace. Long-range strikes are an antivirus against a saturated defense. We combined a lot and went through the defense, but it was difficult, because Veres is a strong team that defends well.
I will say that these three points are very important for us in the race against Dnipro-1. From the point of view of psychology, it is important to maintain the tone of the winner, which pleases me as a coach.
Did the air raid before the match affect the mood of the players? Of course! We live in conditions where we have to adapt to the political situation. The guys who fought in Donetsk came to our locker room. We are grateful to them that we can play football in Ukraine. Without them it would be impossible to do their job. I repeat: thanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and all the people who are fighting for us,” said Jovičević.