Last Thursday, Shakhtar Donetsk defeated French side Rennes 2-1 in the first leg of the Europa League 1/16 final. The game took place in Warsaw. We bring to your attention the post-match comments by the head coaches of the two sides.
Igor Jovicevic, Shakhtar head coach: "It was very important to play to win so that the first half of the two games was good and we could go to Rennes with a good result. The match gave us a lot of information and we will make a good analysis.
Lack of match practice was a negative factor for us, we knew that because we played against Rennes, one of the teams that was in the best form in Europe before the World Cup, with 17 consecutive games without defeat. Now, after the World Cup and up to this day, they are in a bit of a crisis in results, and we wanted to take advantage of that. But still, our last official game was on 23 November last year, and probably after three months you cannot be at the same level as Rennes, who play in the French league, one of the top 5 in Europe.
We wanted to compensate for our lack of game tone with motivation and the execution of our tactical plan, which we set out to do through the analysis I mentioned. Because Rennes is a very pressing team, very aggressive, playing in this scheme in the opponent's half, it scored a lot of goals after pressing at the opponent's goal. And here, if there is a minimal error, Rennes will take advantage of it.
It's really very good information and understanding of how a team beats with character and quality: when you multiply quality by character, it looks like it did in the first half, while there was "gasoline", so to speak. In the second half we lost a bit of control because the first line was no longer as fresh because of the factors I called and we weren't as friendly with the ball as we would have liked to be. The opponents scored a goal, but the good thing is that we regained the initiative and generally had more scoring chances than the opponents. The only regret here is that we couldn't score more, because we deserved it.
Congratulations to the boys for a tremendous battle today. For giving a smile to Nikita and Ilya, the two guys who were in the stadium today. We were aware of who we were playing for: Ukraine, the Ukrainian soldiers. We know who we are playing for and we will never forget it. But this is only the first half. We know that there will be a very tough game in Rennes - revenge in front of a large number of fans. Our opponent is very good at home and it is a good test for us. But I think we will be ready for the second leg even a little better than the first.
I see that when a team battles for each other like the Cossacks, their quality simply cannot disappear. Because the motivation was off the charts, and it was obvious. I think we won today by right. We were patient in the second half, which is also obvious, but overall we had more chances to win the game with a bigger score. I think, if the lack of match practice is not compensated for by motivation, the result will definitely be a defeat. After all, the tone that Rennes have now and ours just can't be compared. Therefore, we had to find other ways - motivational, emotional, tactical - to neutralize the opponents' game, their pressing, neutralize Doga, Bourigault, Guiry, Calimundo, who are top footballers. And analysis has helped to make up for the physical shortcomings with tactical discipline and motivation."
Bruno Genesio, head coach of Rennes: "I will say right away: I don't think we failed to do anything today. Perhaps most of the problems could have been avoided, but I am pleased that we have shown motivation, which was not possible before. Also, we showed a fighting spirit, so we should not forget about the positives.
I saw a problem with long passes from our side. The opponents also destabilized us with their play. However, my team held their own with dignity, because after the first goal we managed to contain Shakhtar's pressure. Then we created chances and scored goals. We had difficulties in defense, opening too much. In the second half we distinguished ourselves, and at the end of the game we could have been red carded, but the match had already been called off.
