Oleh Shelayev: "Shakhtar's first goal was a surprise for Antwerp, and the latter did not know what to do with it"

Former Ukraine midfielder Oleh Shelayev shared his impressions of yesterday's match of the 2nd round of the Champions League group stage between Belgian Antwerp and Shakhtar Donetsk (2:3).

"In the first half we saw a parade of mistakes. Generally, it should be noted that of the five goals, two were scored after goalkeeping errors and one after a ricochet. In addition, Rakitskiy was to blame for the first goal conceded by Shakhtar, who, however, was also partly to blame for the second goal, but the main blame there still lies with the frankly boiled....

At half-time, I think the Pitmen got a kick in the nuts from their coach. Patrick van Leeuwen likes his team to defend compactly, but there should be no gross individual errors. Skill decides everything on the pitch. The current Shakhtar are disciplined, but there are problems with skill. In this game, Van Leeuwen entrusted a place in the starting line-up to players who have been in the team for a long time and know each other well. That was the bet. I do not rule out the fact that at half-time the players themselves had a serious chat with each other and said: let's do something, because there is nowhere to retreat to....

"Shakhtar started the second half very aggressively. The pressure was palpable, and the pressing was good. But Antwerp, and it is obvious that they decided to play by the scoreline, decided that now they could catch the Pitmen on the counterattacks. I had the impression that the quick goal came as a surprise for the Belgians, and they did not know what to do with it. The opponents gave the initiative to Shakhtar before the break, but van Leeuwen's men could not score.

In general, I think that a fair scoreline would have been 3-3, and nobody would have said anything, saying that we deserved better," FootBoom quoted Shelayev as saying.