Head coach of Dynamo Kyiv Oleksandr Shovkovskyi spoke to the media as part of a regular press conference before tomorrow's Europa League group stage match against Hoffenheim.
Oleksandr Shovkovskyi- How did your team travel to Germany this time? In what condition are your players approaching tomorrow's match?
- Yes, of course, the logistics are very complicated, given the situation in our country because of the war that came to us from Russia, a country that destroys our homes, entire regions, and kills our people. It has brought a lot of problems, a lot of grief, and I don't think anyone thought that this would be possible in the 21st century. Now we see that the situation is deteriorating in many regions, as well as in the world in general.
These conditions certainly have a certain impact, and our logistics have become much more complicated. But we are almost used to it, we are ready for it, so I don't want to complain in any way. We are adapting to it and doing our best to make our travels as comfortable as possible.
If we take into account all the time spent on the road, we left the day before yesterday evening and got to Hoffenheim last night. We had a small training session - I would even say a warm-up, because after such a long journey it is difficult to practice anything.
As for the players preparing for the game, we have some problems. In particular, Maksym Bragaru stayed in Kyiv and will not play tomorrow due to a suspension received for a red card in the match against Lazio, and Andriy Yarmolenko and Vitaliy Buyalsky have minor injuries that will not allow them to play against Hoffenheim. They also stayed at home to recover and prepare for the next matches. All other players are training as usual and are ready to take the field tomorrow.
- Over the weekend, Hoffenheim played a fun match against Werder in the Bundesliga - in particular, they were leading 3-0 until the 12th minute, but eventually lost 3-4. Did you analyze that match? What can you say about the opponent?
- I would not take into account the result of the match with Werder, because we know how the events on the field developed. In the first 14-15 minutes, Hoffenheim managed to score three times, and after the 18th minute penalty, the visitors started scoring, equalizing in the first half and scoring the winning goal after the break and gaining three points.
We are well aware that it is always difficult to play against German teams. "Hoffenheim played very well last season, and this season they can't find their game yet, but this in no way indicates the team's weakness. Many players are playing at a really high level and the threat can come from any part of the team.
