Shakhtar head coach Patrick van Leeuwen shared his thoughts on his rivalry with Mircea Lucescu.
- How close were you to Mircea Lucescu when he coached Shakhtar and you were in the academy? Are you ready for the Classic with Dynamo to be very emotional?
- As coaches, we already met on the pitch last season. And it was a situation where Zorya beat Dynamo twice, although it was not easy to get such a result. Mr Lucescu wants to win - and this will not change.
When I was working at the academy, he always invited me to watch the training sessions and talk to me. If there was a young player, he would tell me what could be improved in his game. Or we would just talk about training and players.
- Did you learn anything from Lucescu?
- Yes, I did. I came at a time when there are no longer so many Brazilians in the team. And Lucescu worked with a lot of Brazilian legionnaires and knew how to help with adaptation. Now I work with Carlo Nicolini (physical training coach - Tribuna.com), who was also on Lucescu's staff.