The head coach of Minaj, Željko Lubenović, said what he thought about the disruption of the match of the 16th round of the Ukrainian championship against Dynamo Kyiv, which was to take place on 3 December but was first postponed due to an air raid alert and then cancelled due to the lack of artificial lighting at the Minaj stadium.
Željko Lubenović. Photo - fcminaj.com- The other day, the president of Dynamo Kyiv, Ihor Surkis, actually accused Minaj of poor organisation, which is why we failed to finish the match of the 16th round between your team and Dynamo.
- We wanted to play. But Dynamo seemed to have no desire to play as soon as the option of cancelling the match appeared. They were in a big hurry.
- If possible, be more specific.
- As soon as the alert was over, less than five minutes had passed, my players were already warming up. We went to Dynamo's dressing room and asked them to return to the pitch, but in vain. They said no, goodbye!
- Now I will quote Ihor Surkis to make the conversation more substantive: "We spent a lot of money, we were there for two days. There is no lighting - it's ridiculous. We play in the UPL, we want to play in Europe, and there is no lighting. Therefore, if they want to, let them come to us, we will prepare everything and we will play in Kyiv," - end of quote.
- Really? I'm shocked. What does Minaj have to do with it? It's force majeure! The club did everything on its part. The staff had been preparing the pitch for several days. They didn't sleep at night. Literally. It was not easy, because it rained for two days in Uzhhorod, then it snowed.
Why do we have to go to play in Kyiv? I don't understand. We offered to play the next day, but the people of Kyiv said no. So what were we supposed to do?
I do not understand the position of Igor Surkis. What does he mean, "We won't go there again?" Is the management of Minaj or the players to blame for the air raid? Or did the club, for its part, not do everything it could to hold the match?
I repeat - we did everything. And everyone in the Premier League is well aware that there is no lighting at the Minaj Arena. The stadium has been certified.
Viktor Hlukhenkyi
