Ihor Surkis, President of Dynamo Kyiv, commented on the victory over LNZ Cherkasy (1-0) in yesterday's match of the 5th round of the Ukrainian championship on the YouTube channel PROFUTBOLO Digital and shared his expectations for the start of the main stage of the Europa League.
Ihor Surkis- Igor Mikhailovich, Dynamo has already played many matches this season, but this is only the first one in Kyiv. What do you think of this trip abroad, how was it for you?
- It's very hard for the guys. They are constantly moving from one place to another. It's very hard to travel and play every two or three days. Now we are back in Kyiv and today's victory was not easy for us. The opposing team was very well prepared.
But we have the depth of the squad and we won, we got three points.
Anyway, we had to score three or four goals today and close the match.
Now those guys who are not going to the national team will rest for three days, as the head coach said, and will continue to prepare. The season will be very hard, very intense.
- Is this new format of the European Cups even harder for you as a manager of a club that plays in the European Cups than the previous one?
- Eight matches, eight away games, and in the winter there will be virtually no vacation or preparation. We only play the last match of the main stage of the Europa League on January 14 or 15, and then we have to give the guys two or three weeks maximum to rest. And only after that we can prepare for the second half of the season. This is an experiment for us. Let's hope it will be successful.
- What do you think of the new format of the European Cups in general?
- I can't evaluate it yet. We'll see how it goes. But for us, for our country, where there is a war, it is very difficult. We don't play at home. We will have six away games this year and every two or three days we will have to return. And then we have to go back to Hamburg, where we will play our home European Cup matches. It's very hard for the guys. But they are professionals, they have to recover, there must be a rotation of the squad. And the tasks facing the team have not been canceled.
- What was your favorite moment of Dynamo's season opener?
- I liked the way the guys approached the Champions League qualifiers, beat a difficult team, Partizan. And it was no longer a football match, but a political one, as we all understand. It was very important for our guys who are fighting that we beat these non-humans who go to Russia and play some matches there when our children, our women and soldiers are dying. So it was important to beat them. And we did it with a score of 9:2.
The guys were in a very good mood, they beat Rangers. And then our opponent was Salzburg, which is a very good team. They have players who cost 15-20 million each. But I understand that in football there is luck and bad luck. And we had pure bad luck in these matches. We had to win them, and we could do it.
- What makes Salzburg better than Dynamo?
- In no way. Their players are younger, ours are more experienced. And if Yarmolenko and Shaparenko had realized their chances in the first match, everything could have turned out differently. Anything can happen in football.
We didn't go further, and now we will try to play decently in the Europa League. This tournament is not much inferior to the Champions League in terms of its participants. The same Lazio and Roma can play in the Champions League. And Galatasaray is the champion of its country. Therefore, these matches will show what we are capable of, what positions we still need to strengthen. We have strengthened our squad in the summer. Attracting foreign players is very hard work nowadays. It is both expensive and difficult: when there is a war, not everyone wants to come here.
"Dynamo Kyiv represents the country, and so far we have done a decent job. We need very good players. We used to be able to invite such players. You remember Belanda and Lance. These guys were very good and they competed with our Ukrainian guys. But today we have a Ukrainian team, a young team. We have a very well-developed club academy. Look at Mykhavko: this guy is progressing with every game. Moreover, he came out with an injury today. Popov is also injured, and Oleksandr Shovkovskyi did not want to take any risks by releasing Ceballos. We realized that it would be a tough game. Shaparenko is out with a microtrauma, Buyalsky has been ill for three weeks. There are problems. But the guys who came out today proved that they can replace those who cannot play now.
- You once said that it is better to win in the Europa League against weaker teams than to lose in the Champions League to stronger ones. How do you feel about this phrase now?
- The Europa League today and then are different Europa Leagues. Let's be honest: "Roma and Lazio are teams that we have never met before, neither in the Europa League nor in the playoffs. Well, we will play with them now. On Saturday, I watched Lazio's game with Milan (2:2 - ed. ). This is a very powerful team. Well, as they say, you can play with everyone.
- You have three wins in the league at the start. In the previous championship, your rival, Shakhtar, started badly in the fall, but Dynamo did not take advantage of it. And then all the players and the Dynamo coach said that the championship was lost in the fall. Do you have any motivation now, given the fact that Shakhtar have started the season badly again?
- No, I don't. We have to look at ourselves first and foremost. Today, with such an advantage, we could have lost points. And we must win our home games, our away games to achieve the goal that all the fans, players, coaches and I have as the club president: we want to bring the gold medals back to Kyiv. And most importantly, we need to do well in the Europa League.
- How many points can Dynamo score in the main stage of the Europa League?
- I understand that 14-15 points give a direct path to the first eight, and 9-10 points give a chance to play in the playoffs for the last 16.
- Have you counted the money yet?
- I don't count money. In this sense, I was not at all worried that we did not get to the Champions League. I realized that the guys deserved it with their performance, the attitude I saw at the training camp, and the way they were adjusting. They did not see their children or their families. All these two months they were preparing to get to the Champions League. This time they failed. It's okay, we'll play in the Europa League.
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