Myron Markevych, the head coach of Lviv's Karpaty, shared his impressions of the first UEFA Europa League play-off match for the right to reach the last 16 of the tournament between Shakhtar Donetsk and French side Marseille (2:2), which took place yesterday in Hamburg.
Мирон Маркевич. Фото — fckarpaty.org.ua"It was a good game. It was a fighting game. As a spectator, not a coach, I really liked it. But, to be honest, I did not expect to see four goals. I thought that Shakhtar would win by one goal, as it seemed to me.
However, it's good that it ended the way it did, given the course of the match, which could well have ended not in favour of the Ukrainian club. Shakhtar's first goal, for example, turned out to be quite curious - they were punished for a very gross mistake by the Marseille defender, who simply missed the ball and failed to take it out. And the French scored when Matvienko didn't take it out too hard.
In general, the result of the game, as they say. The final relationship will be settled in the return leg in Marseille.
As for Eginadou's disallowed goal in the first half, it was definitely the referee's mistake. He should have let the episode play out to the end. The referee reacted to Danylo Sikan's fall instantly. It was also the right decision, because there was a foul, but who knew that Shakhtar would score in a second? I would have waited for literally not a second, but two, but... It was a very dynamic episode. But in general, the referee did a good job. Objectively. There should be no complaints against him. It's time to forget about it.
The teams' chances of reaching the 1/8 finals? My opinion on this matter has not changed: I still believe that the chances are absolutely equal. Moreover, there has been no rule of an away goal in European competitions for a long time. If it was the old-fashioned way, then yes, Marseille would be the favourites now.
Now Shakhtar have a whole week before the return leg. There is plenty of time and there are no matches in the UPL yet, so there is no need to talk about any fatigue. "Marseille, on the other hand, will have a game in their league against a very difficult team, Brest. "Marseille has nowhere to retreat in Ligue 1: 6 matches without a win. In a word, it should be an interesting game on 22 February," Ukrainian Football quoted Markevich as saying.
