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.
Oleksandr Shovkovskiy. Photo — fcdynamo.com"It is already the third year of full-scale war in Ukraine. It has been 10 years since the first aggression against our country. So, of course, there are a lot of negative emotions, a lot of emotions that are impossible to get rid of. They remain in our lives and will probably remain forever.
Our fighters defend our homes, they do everything possible to make sure that soccer does not disappear in our country. So to have this opportunity to give positive moments - to reach the Champions League - to those who fight for our freedom, for our independence, is really important for us. It's something priceless and we're happy to be able to do it. We want to give our warriors pleasant emotions, because they really miss them now.
The Olympics, which is now taking place in Paris, and the performances of our Olympians, the medals they have won - all this gives us faith that despite all these setbacks and the war in Ukraine, we will be able to pass this stage, overcome it, endure and win. We want to give positive emotions to our brave soldiers and even ordinary people, because this is a very difficult moment.
We do not separate ourselves from the Ukrainian people, from the Ukrainian nation. We are a part of it, and we will do everything possible in this match to give them these positive moments.
We can not play in our hometown, with our home crowd. So we are very grateful to all the people who come here to support us.
Of course, in the matches against Rangers we expect a more serious test than we had against Partizan in the previous stage of qualification. The last 10 years were difficult for Rangers, but the club managed to rise again, to play in the top division, to play in the Champions League, to win trophies in Scotland.
Now Rangers are on their way to returning to the tradition of their club. They have a squad made up of very good players. Especially the strikers and wingers. The team is experienced, ambitious and plays very fast soccer. It will be an interesting game for us.
They are two different but two good teams and we expect danger from anyone in the Rangers team. We expect two very good matches and we are looking forward to them.
We scored a lot of goals in the previous stage and of course we hope to do that again in the matches against Rangers. We train for that, but it's one thing to create chances and quite another to realize them. We must turn our actions into goals," DailyRecord quoted Shovkovskiy as saying.
