The head coach of Shakhtar Donetsk, Marino Pušić, has revealed what he expects from his team's match against Barcelona in the 4th round of the Champions League group stage, which will take place today in Hamburg.
Marina Pushich"You can't call it a home game because we were on the road for several hours to get to our destination. This, of course, requires adaptation, requires a strong spirit - and I see that in my team.
We are happy to be here, we have time for a short training session to prepare for the game. But, frankly speaking, it's definitely not ideal conditions when you have to travel so much. This is my first experience, or even my second, because we were coming back after the Barcelona match. But it's the first experience with a game like this coming up - it's special. But we are not here to complain, we are here to compete. And that's all. We're not here to complain about the long journeys or the fact that we're wasting a lot of time, not doing extra training or anything like that. We are not complaining, we came here to fight and play this match.
Unfortunately, there is a war going on, and this is the most important thing. We hope it will end as soon as possible. And of course, these conditions force us not to play matches at home, but to travel a lot, as I said. And it's not easy. But in this club, I feel the character, the fighting spirit, the organisation, I see people who work hard, and the fact that they are like a family to each other, they support each other in these difficult circumstances to find the best way out of this situation. And I'm very impressed by that, it's not easy, but I'm impressed by that general attitude.
Like every team, we know the strength of Barcelona - they are a great club. In my opinion, one of the best in Europe. Playing against such a team is always a great challenge. We already met a week ago, we felt their strength, but also their weaknesses, so our job is to find them again, try to use the analysis and fight, as I said. This is a game for us, we have nothing to lose. I just want my team to come out, to fight, to work on our aspects and the basic principles of the game again. We'll see where it takes us in the end, but I want us to be bold and do our best in this game.
To be honest, we didn't train often, and they weren't that big, but during the matches we worked on some principles that I want to see again on Thursday. I don't really believe in saying that a certain team is not at its best at a certain moment, because every game is different. "Barcelona have an impressive number of good players, they can afford to make a lot of changes. But we are here to compete. I want to see the realisation of what we have been working on in training. We'll see how it goes. Any team can lose a classic, the chances are always 50-50. I wouldn't say they are going through a difficult period. You can draw in a difficult game away from home. They continue to fight for the championship and are currently in third place. I know they are a very good team. This does not change my opinion," said Pušić.
