On Friday, 3 November, Dynamo Kyiv lost to Shakhtar Donetsk with the score 0:1 in the match of the 13th round of the Ukrainian championship of the season-2023/24. The meeting took place in Kyiv at the Dynamo stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskiy. Here is the post-match press conference of the head coaches of the teams.
Mircea LUCHEU, Dynamo head coach:
- Today I would not like to talk about the game. I have given 15 years to Ukrainian football and I decided to finish my coaching career. This is my last game. I said goodbye to Dynamo players, to Shakhtar players
I hope that some part of me has remained here. I am grateful to the president of Dynamo for the joint work. Of course, I wanted to finish my career in a different way. But everything comes to an end in this life. Everything has its beginning and everything has its end.
Mircea Lucescu. Photo - Y.YurievIf I have two words on the game, today the more experienced team won. We had chances, but did not use them.
Dynamo has a future, the club has good promising youngsters. Today the oldest player in our reserve was Sirota. But, of course, these guys need to work hard to succeed. But I repeat, the team has a future. I am sure that Ukraine also has a future. I admit, it was very difficult for me to experience everything that happened in Ukraine since the beginning of the war. Including the lack of fans and the minutes of silence before each match. It was difficult for me. Over the years you become sentimental. Each game was harder for me than the previous one. You constantly think about people dying at the front, you constantly think about what people are going through here. All this was difficult to combine with football.
Thank you all! Thank you to Ukrainian football! Thank you to Ukraine for these 15 years! I wish peace, health and a happy future to everyone.
Since the beginning of the war, I was here. In 2014, I did not leave Shakhtar either.
Dynamo have a young team now and maybe my pressure and authority were too big for it. I take all the responsibility for the recent results. We had a handicap against our rivals in the standings, but unfortunately we failed to win those matches.
Over the past two years, 14 players have left our team. These are experienced players, the leading ones. And young people need time, these guys can not immediately replace experienced and more skilful players.
You need to have patience. It is easy to criticise. We need to support the youth so that they start to give results. Not only in Dynamo, but also in the Ukrainian national team. Foreigners do not come here now. Therefore, we need to be patient.
Thank you, journalists. I thank you all for everything. Unfortunately, Artem Frankov is no longer with us. He loved football, lived it. It is a pity that such people go to another world.
I hug you all, all the best to you!
Marino PUSIC, Shakhtar head coach:
- It is always a pleasure to win. Especially in a Ukrainian classic. It was very important for us. I think we fully deserved this victory. We played well, created chances. We had chances to open the scoring in the first half.
- How do you like the level of the Ukrainian championship?
- It is very difficult to say. The championship is like a marathon. It takes time to get acquainted with the teams. But there are definitely good teams in the Ukrainian league.
- You have just virtually "sacked" Mircea Lucescu from the position of Dynamo head coach. What are your emotions in connection with this?
- It is his decision. I have only respect towards Lucescu. Respect for his coaching achievements. He has been in football for so many years, he has been at the top level for so many years! So I can say one word: respect.
Oleksandr POPOV from the Dynamo Stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskiy
