Last Thursday, Shakhtar Donetsk was defeated by the Dutch Feyenoord 1-7 in the return leg of the Europa League 1/8 finals (the first leg ended in a draw, 1-1). The match took place in Rotterdam. Here is the post-match commentary from Shakhtar head coach Igor Jovicevic.
Igor Jovicevic"What happened was that one team was better than us, and that was Feyenoord. We have to congratulate Feyenoord for a good game. There are days like that, that's soccer. Recently, there are examples of Manchester United and Leipzig. We at least scored a goal and they didn't even score. So better teams lose than ours.
This is one day, which I have to pass as a coach. And I want to apologize to the Ukrainian fans who hoped for us, for the fact that we would pass on. Unfortunately, the match turned out that way.
I have to make a lot of conclusions, where I will take responsibility as a coach, not hiding behind this result. But we gave all the strength we had today. Just gave the guys all their strength. It was not enough, and it was evident in every single fight - they punished us for every mistake. This was the determining factor.
With the score 2-0, we had a few chances to go into the game - two opportunities for Sudakov. But the third goal from a penalty - it was too psychological for us to stay in the game all the time.
This is the first experience for us, the tenth match in the current euro season, the Champions League and the Europa League. There were also key games for the passage: with Celtic, when we got out of the group, then we beat Rennes. But today we got the best team, whose shots on goal all scored. And we must give credit to the opponent, because Feyenoord is the top team of today. And we are happy to have come this way: the first year in such conditions, where we live, where we travel 24 hours per match, we gave our all. And congratulations to Feyenoord for a good game, a good team and I wish you success.
How did the war and the situation in Ukraine play a role in this match? I would focus on the soccer and give Feyenoord credit for playing our best match today. And this is obvious from the result. To make excuses and look for reasons may not be serious on my part, because I'm the coach, but this question makes sense.
It's really hard to train at the moment, and, as you know, the sky is closed, we can't get between two matches by plane, so we go by bus. And the journey is much longer: 20 hours to the match against Kryvbas, 24 hours here in Rotterdam. But this is not the reason for the defeat. I say again that we played against a team that was better than us today. It's a good lesson. And we should be proud of the period in the euro arena that we went from the first match against Leipzig, where they just did not bet even one euro on us, that we have a chance to get out of the group. So the guys deserve nothing but praise, and today we are completing a European journey for which in the first year we can say 'Chapo' - 'take off my hat'," Jovicevic said.
