French Rennes head coach Bruno Genesio has told us what he expects from his side's first leg against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Europa League 1/16 final to take place today in Warsaw.
Bruno Genesio"I have not talked to the players about the fact that the rivals will be the Ukrainian team. It is hard to say anything, because I talked to the coach of Dynamo, and we understand the conditions under which players of Ukrainian clubs are preparing, based on the situation in their country. Undoubtedly, the game will show that the opponents will play not only for their club, but also for the whole country. We know that Shakhtar will fight to the end and play at the highest level.
Our staffing problem? Several important performers will not be able to play. We understand that our bench is too short to play in European competitions, but we try not to take it into account and just work.
As for Shakhtar's loss of Mudryk, of course, he is a high level footballer, he can be compared to a high-calibre weapon. It may be good news for us, but Shakhtar still have a lot of high-level players left. We have been watching the opposition for a long time and I can't say that it will get much easier for us after Mudryk leaves," Genesio said during the pre-match press conference.
