Former Shakhtar and Ukraine international Serhiy Kovalev shared his expectations for the second leg of the Europa League last-16 match against Marseille with КОМАНДА1.
- Serhiy, did Shakhtar bounce back in the first game against Marseille?
- Of course, Shakhtar were lucky to equalise in stoppage time. But speaking about the game in general, the Pitmen did not deserve to lose. I believe that a draw is a fair result of the match.
- Will it be harder in France?
- No doubt about it. First of all, it concerns the change of head coach. This situation can add to the emotions of the team. In addition, Marseille needs to rehabilitate itself in front of its fans for the poor results of late. And the match against Shakhtar could be the starting point for the French.
- In this meeting, what trump card can the Donetsk team have?
- "Most likely, Marseille will try to play in an attacking manner, and I believe the stands will not allow the team to play any other football. Accordingly, Shakhtar may have more free areas, and the Pitmen can use counter-attacks to good effect through the individual actions of Zubkov, Eginaldo, Bondarenko and Sudakov.
- Do you think the opponents were practising a series of 11-metre shots?
- They may have paid attention to it, but not enough to emphasise it. Probably, both opponents will try to solve the issue in normal time.
- Could you try to predict the outcome of the Marseille vs Shakhtar match ?
- I've already said that, in my opinion, the French will try to play attacking football, so there will be more space in their defensive formation. It is also possible to achieve a positive result if Shakhtar's players play compactly in defence, and this applies to the whole team, in order to give Marseille's leaders, in particular Aubameyang, as little freedom as possible. All these nuances in combination can enable the Ukrainian team to achieve the desired. That's why I'm betting on the visitors to win 2-1.
Serhiy DEMYANCHUK