Yesterday, in one of the matches of the 4th round of the Ukrainian championship, Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih drew with Shakhtar Donetsk 3-3. Here are the post-match statements of the teams' head coaches.
Photo - shakhtar.comYuriy Vernydub, head coach of Kryvbas: "I think the scoreline 3-3 with the champion of our country Shakhtar is very good. I don't want to say much about the match. The team got into a difficult situation at the beginning - we had to get up from our knees and fight on. We scored a good goal, making the score 1-2, and managed to get back into the game. Then - again, our player made a mistake... But after a while we scored the second goal - and the intrigue was alive again.
In my opinion, the second half was an even match. We took our chances. The Miners also had good opportunities, but they did not score again - that's why the score is 3-3. I am very grateful to the guys for that. We have a strong core in the middle.
I am very happy for the players. We will work even harder and move forward from match to match. This is the most important thing. And then life will show us where we will be at the end of the championship.
The most important thing in this story is that we played as a team, acted in a coordinated manner, so you can't say that anyone stands out or falls out. "Kryvbas is a single team, a single mechanism that is working well so far. God willing, it will continue to do so.
I understand that Shakhtar Donetsk came out against us today, but when I talked to the guys, I stressed that we should not be afraid. Moreover, we are playing at home. Although the Orange and Blacks had a complete advantage for the first 15-20 minutes, I admit it. We couldn't keep up, the Shakhtar players are quite fast: Topalov, Kashchuk, Sikan, Zubkov, Gocholeishvili - all of them are reactive. It is not easy to play with this team. Today we saw that Kryvbas is good not only at defending but also at attacking. I am very pleased with the scoreline.
We played to the end. Like any coach, I wanted to win (smiles). Moreover, it was a good penalty - why not go for it? It's better to leave the fast Bliznichenko and Dibango behind, and let the taller ones go to the back! Or maybe we could score another one? For example, Dany Beskorovainyi managed to score from a very good cross by Max Zaderaka."
Patrick van Leeuwen, Shakhtar head coach: "Everyone saw that the referee was very principled. He used VAR, so his decisions can be called correct.
At the same time, I believe that one of the yellow cards received by Dmytro Chygrynskyi was not justified. Referees need to take more account of the fact that football is a contact sport and not be fooled by shouting during game contacts on the pitch. Too much noise does not always mean a foul.
"Shakhtar should have scored a lot of goals. And then it would have been a completely different game. But we didn't make the most of our chances and conceded in return. Three chances - three goals for us."
