Press conference. Oleksandr Shovkovskiy: "Rangers play very fast soccer" (UPDATED)

Head coach of Kyiv Dynamo Oleksandr Shovkovskiy told at the press conference before the first match with Scottish Rangers in the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League what he expects from this match.

- First of all, I would like to welcome you all to Poland. Unfortunately, this is not our home arena, but you all know what the situation is like in our country, where there is a war and we are forced to play our home matches in Lublin. So I want to thank this city, its residents, who accept us and do everything possible to make us feel at home.

Of course, the team we will play against in the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League has a great history. Although Rangers have had some problems in recent decades, the club has managed to rise up, returned to the top division, became champions, won the Scottish Cup and League Cup, and are now on their way to regaining the glorious traditions that this club has. We are very much looking forward to this clash for two different cultures of soccer to meet.

For our part, we will try to show our best qualities. But at the same time we have studied our opponent, and we can expect a threat both from the forwards, who are excellent in the closing stages, and from the active wing players. The team is experienced, ambitious, plays very fast soccer. Therefore, an interesting confrontation awaits us.

- How difficult is it to play home matches abroad, namely in Poland? Do you feel that you represent the Ukrainian people?

- You know, a full-scale war has been going on in our country for the third year, for 10 years already. Of course, it is a lot of negativity, emotions, and it is impossible to get rid of them. They still remain in our lives and will probably remain forever. On the other hand, we have the opportunity to give positive emotions to soccer fans, to those people who protect our borders, our homes, do everything possible to ensure that soccer as an art in our country does not disappear. For our part, we want to give pleasant emotions, because they are really lacking now.

And the Olympics, which is now taking place in Paris, the performances of our Olympians, the medals they win - all this adds faith that despite all these problems, despite the war that continues in our country, we will be able to go through this stage, to overcome it, to stand and win. And it is very important for us to give everyone this support, we do not separate ourselves from Ukraine and Ukrainians. We work and do everything in our power to show that despite everything we will be ready to defend our right on the soccer field in the framework of Fair Play, to fight and strive for victory.

- What about Dyachuk, what is his condition? And how does Tymchyk feel?

- Unfortunately, Maksym is now in the hospital in Warsaw. Probably, now he should start the necessary surgery, so we are worried about him and wish him a speedy recovery. Timczyk has already joined the team, started training in the general group, but, of course, he needs time to get his best condition.

- In two matches with Partizan a lot of goals were scored, as well as last season Dynamo scored a lot. Do you expect it to be the same in the future?

- Absolutely. (Smiling). We are working on it, we do a lot of exercises to develop the players' goal sense, but it's not enough to be ready - you need to be able to realize all your potential on the soccer field, which each player and the team as a whole has.

We communicate a lot with the players, we point out a lot of tactical points, we analyze game moments. There is always a possibility to improve our game. But I always tell my players that it doesn't matter where they are now. It's important what you do to get there, how much work you've done, how much effort you've put in. It's important to track not where you are now, but what you've done to get there. If you learn to track just that, then you will progress every day and never stop in your development both personally and as a team.

When preparing for any confrontation, we look directly at how the team has played the last few matches, which players have joined the team, who has come on as a substitute, how they interact on the pitch. I don't look at whether we played against someone or not - it doesn't matter. For me it is important to know what condition my team is in, and to be able to recognize how and at the expense of what the opposing team is doing, based on which to prepare directly for the upcoming game.