Valerii Bondar: "We tried to confuse Atalanta's players by playing in positions other than our own"

Shakhtar defender Valeriy Bondar commented on Atalanta's defeat in the second round of the Champions League main draw.

- What went wrong in this game?

- The first mistake was the standards, which need to be given a lot of attention. We do it, and the coach points out that it is a very important component in the game. Well, we just couldn't miss like that. It's very easy to score from a set piece. That was the first such moment.

The second was when we conceded an unnecessary second goal at the end of the first half. In general, everything went off script. Then the second half started and we realized that the 2-0 score was slippery. We could make it 2-1 and then something would happen. But we didn't score our chance, we missed it again. And then we tried not to concede more than three. And to score at least one goal.

- The plan that was given to the journalists included Shakhtar's three-defender formation. During the break, Konoplya came on instead of Gram. Did Pushich change the scheme?

- Graham had a yellow card. It was such a moment that he could have received a card for some foul. It was unnecessary for us at all.

But we didn't play with three defenders. Graham played as a right back in our scheme. But you know that Atalanta plays all over the field. Our guys also tried to confuse, to play in positions other than their own and get space, get the ball. But Atalanta is a very high-class team, which showed it today.

- Two fullbacks played behind us: Stepanenko and Kryskiv. Was there a task to play "zero" in the first place?

- Every match has a task to play "zero". This is a very important point for us - goalkeepers, defenders, and holding midfielders. When we don't concede, it gives the team a boost.

We already have at least one point. And if we can also score a goal, it will be great. Playing "zero" is the number one task for every game. Especially with teams like these, whose quality is very, very crazy. We need to play very, very carefully in those moments where we failed and where we conceded goals.

- Why did Lukman cause so much inconvenience?

- He has all the qualities for the kind of player he is. He demonstrated this with Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final, where he scored goals. And today he scored. He's a very high-class player who can score on his own.

- He just scored in a moment of struggle with you.

- I need to watch this episode and analyze it. I haven't seen him like that yet.

Maksym Kucher.