Ihor Plastun: "Shakhtar and Dynamo stimulated each other's rivals. It was tens of thousands of dollars per player"

Ukrainian defender of Ludogorets Ihor Plastun recalled the 2010/11 season, when he played for Obolon Kyiv and his team managed to score 10 points in UPL matches against Dynamo Kyiv (2-2, 2-0) and Shakhtar Donetsk (1-0, 1-0).

- In the 2010/11 season, Obolon managed to score a fantastic ten points out of 12 possible in the matches against Shakhtar (1-0, 1-0) and Dynamo (2-2, 2-0). What was the reason for this?

- I think it was the effect of the new coach Serhiy Kovalets. He created a very good atmosphere in the team. He always encouraged wives and children to come to the matches. Once a week, they came to the base by car and held training sessions, while the team doctor and the wives cooked a barbecue. From such simple things, Kovalets was able to build a team.

That season, Obolon, with a fairly modest budget, was fighting for the European Cup zone three rounds before the end of the championship. Unfortunately, they lost the last few matches. That's why we finished only tenth.

- Your main victory, however, was the victory over Shakhtar at the Donbass Arena. You inflicted the Pitmen's first defeat at the new stadium and dispelled its magic. How did it go?

- It was a very difficult game. "Shakhtar were one of the top teams in Europe at the time. However, we also played well.

I believe that for a match at the Donbass Arena, we created quite a few chances. They also had opportunities to score, especially in the first half. The ball once hit the post, Sanya Rybka saved us a lot... It was not easy to play against Shakhtar at this stadium, their support was crazy.

We also played in the minority for almost half an hour because of a sending-off. However, at the end of the match, Serhiy Kucherenko scored a fantastic goal from the penalty spot. It was incredible emotions.

We can say that we showed Barcelona how to beat Shakhtar at the Donbass Arena. A few days later, they met the Shakhtar in the Champions League at this stadium and also won 1-0. Thus, Barcelona became the second team to defeat Shakhtar at the new stadium.

- How widespread was the financial incentive from our rivals for taking points from a direct competitor in those days?

- Yes, back then Shakhtar and Dynamo actively incentivised each other's rivals, because there was a very fierce fight for the championship between these teams, and every misfire could be worth gold.

We earned a lot of money from those four matches. It was tens of thousands of dollars per player. After beating Dynamo and Shakhtar, I bought my first car - a Peugeot RCZ.

Dmytro Venkov