Shakhtar Donetsk head coach Marino Pušić has revealed what he expects from his side's return match against French side Marseille in the Europa League play-offs for the right to reach the last 16 of the tournament, which will take place today at the Provencal ground. As a reminder, the first meeting between the rivals ended in a 2-2 draw.
Маріно Пушич"This is the second game, and as we all know, it will decide everything. We felt how good Marseille are in the first game, despite all their current problems. But I can tell you that they are still Marseille, with a lot of very strong individually strong players who make it possible to get results. We felt it during the first game and we have to be ready for the second game to respond well in certain individual moments, which we are going to do.
In any case, it will be an interesting match: in the first meeting the game was even, and it will probably be the same in the second. It's always difficult to play an away game here in Marseille - I had such an experience with Feyenoord two years ago in the UEFA Conference League semi-finals. I know how loud it can be in this stadium with a lot of fans, but it's also very nice because you play these games in this atmosphere, with this pressure and everything that goes with these games. So we are looking forward to the game and will be ready for it.
As for changes, football changes every day, and everything is possible. We also have a lot of room for change in our squad. But it also happens that the coach can also change, so there is a possibility that they will change the style of play. It all comes down to adapting at the right time, and I believe we are capable of adapting to any situation.
Changing the coach at Marseille: It's always an interesting situation when a club changes the coach before a game to try to achieve something. They may make a number of changes - we don't know about it, but it's possible. However, this does not affect our preparation for the game. We focus entirely on ourselves, on sticking to our style.
Of course, we are interested in our opponent, as always, we are studying them, and how they will play now depends on their coach, but, as I said earlier, they are a big club, a team with a lot of individual qualities. For me, the most important thing in a football match is to adapt to what is happening on the pitch. We are ready to respond to many moments, and I hope we will show it tomorrow. As always, I tell my team: we came to compete with another team. This is the second game, we came to play football, we like the atmosphere, I like this tension, so we are looking forward to this match," said Pušić at the pre-match press conference.
