Ihor Surkis: "The team is progressing and gaining momentum"

The president of Dynamo Kyiv, Igor Surkis, commented on the 3-0 victory over Zorya Luhansk in the postponed match of the 6th round of the Ukrainian championship.

- Since Oleksandr Shovkovskyi took over Dynamo, the team has not suffered a single defeat. How would you comment on his work?

- The team must progress. Shovkovskyi is doing his job well. We saw it in Poltava and we saw it today - the team is progressing and gaining momentum. It's not that there are only 11 players in the team - everyone plays, everyone gets a chance. The team is in a very good mood, so I hope that we will fight for the championship until the last round.

- Shovkovskyi held his first training camp as a coach...

- It's very important, although the training camp was not about winning every match. The task was to make the boys feel each other on the field, even with their backs. Today we see the fruits of this work, the team is progressing with each match. This is how it should be in football. As soon as you stop, nothing will happen.

- Mykola Shaparenko gave two assists today, he scored in the last match. He has probably already gained his form, which has not been there for a long time?

- All the fans, everyone who knows about football, understand that Shaparenko is a very high-quality, great footballer who, I hope, will have a great future in European football. No one will keep him. If there are requests for him, we will consider them. Mykola is a true Dynamo fan, he is very concerned about the team's results. He was worried that he was not doing well on the football pitch. It took him a long time to recover. But now everything is fine, he has gained his optimum condition, so we will see Mykola in even better shape, he will pass and score. He is a very high-quality footballer. Such players are very rarely born.

- What are your impressions of today's match?

- My impressions are positive. The guys had a 4-hour match in Poltava. They had only a few days to recover their conditions. I understand that they are very serious about showing a great game. Today we saw not only the result, but also some great football and different tactics. When we took a 2-0 lead, we gave our opponents space and caught them on the counterattack. Today was very high-quality football at good speeds. This is how a team should play in order to progress and play in European competitions.

- Andriy Yarmolenko is back. We heard how the fans greeted him today. Is this the man with whom Dynamo should fight for the championship?

- Yarmolenko is a person who brings calmness, a person who understands everything on the football field, a person who can decide the fate of a match with one touch. Yarmolenko also had a difficult time, he is gaining his conditioning. If he continues to play like this, I am sure that he will greatly help the Ukrainian national team at the European Championship.

- Today he played in the last minutes as an attacking midfielder. Did it surprise you?

- Not surprised, because he can play in any position. With his experience and understanding of football. He is a very intelligent person. Yarmolenko is a guy with whom I hope we will cooperate for a long time when he finishes his career as a player. But now I want to wish him to go out on the pitch and show such beauty for many years to come, so that the fans go crazy with his game.

- Does the team have enough time to recover, given the tight match schedule?

- You see, we have a long bench. The guys who come on as substitutes have to keep the balance of the game and give the others a rest for the remaining 20 or 30 minutes of the game. Today, everyone who came on as a substitute showed the same quality football as the guys who played in the starting line-up.