Dynamo head coach Oleksandr Shovkovskyi commented on the home victory over LNZ (1-0) in the 5th round of the Ukrainian championship at a press conference.
Oleksandr Shovkovskyi. Photo by Yuriy Yuriev- I congratulate all Dynamo fans on the victory. It was a difficult match. We understood perfectly well what the game would be like. I felt it, to be honest. After the Champions League qualifying matches and the playoffs, travel, logistics, I prepared my guys for a difficult game, that we would be dealing with a team that had a good start in the current Ukrainian championship, ranked second, won three matches in four and showed a fairly interesting game. I was preparing them for a difficult match, and it happened. Although we had opportunities to finish our attacks more successfully in the final stage and had to take it easy to win the match.
- What was the reason for Shaparenko's absence in today's match?
- Unfortunately, he had some problems with his calf muscle, it is very sensitive, and in case of overload, Mykola could be out for a month. So, in order not to complicate the situation, he was left out of the squad today.
- When will we see Seballos on the field?
- When he gets into the starting lineup or comes on as a substitute.
- Valentyn Rubchynskyi made his debut today, how would you rate his performance?
- He is certainly a very interesting player, his skills add to our mobility in the middle of the pitch. I am pleased with his debut and the way he acted on the field. Valentyn trains a lot with the team, he is already starting to feel the players well. Of course, there are always moments that can be improved, but in general, I think he played well enough for the time he had.
- It was the first time in a long time that you played a home match in Kyiv. Today's match was sold out. Did you feel any special emotions about it?
- I shared my emotions on my Instagram page yesterday when I wrote: "Kyiv, how I missed you". We were away from home for 52 days, first preparing with the team at a training camp in Austria, then we had a tour to play with Partizan, played in Lublin, Glasgow, Salzburg. Between these matches, we visited Rivne and Lviv. It was a difficult period due to the ongoing war in our country. I would like to once again thank our defenders for giving us the opportunity to play football and for keeping football alive in our country.
I repeat, we were well aware of what kind of game we were going to play today, I told the guys about it. The ten players who remain in the team and do not go to the national teams will have three days of rest, and we wished the guys who are going to the national and youth teams to perform well and, most importantly, to return to our team without injury.
- Does Dynamo plan to play its home matches in Lviv, as Shakhtar did, to facilitate the logistics for European Cup matches?
- Dynamo plans to play its home games in Kyiv.
- Do you continue to search for a striker, given that the fans have not been very impressed with Vanat's performance lately?
- The search never ends.
