The head coach of Veres Rivne, Oleh Shandruk, explained how his team managed to draw with Shakhtar Donetsk (1-1) in the 8th round of the Ukrainian championship.
Oleh Shandruk. Photo by Yuriy Yuriev- Oleg, you drew with Shakhtar in the previous round. Some time has passed since that result. Have you managed to realize what was the basis of this success?
- Of course, tactical discipline. We played quite compactly and aggressively against the opponent with the ball. We realized that Shakhtar would create chances in any case, because it is impossible to play reliably at your own goal. But in most episodes, it worked. This allowed us to concede only one goal and have promising, fast attacks.
- Eight rounds of the championship is a sufficient period to draw conclusions about the success or failure of the start of the championship. How would you rate this period for your team on a ten-point scale?
- I would give it five out of ten. I wouldn't say that it is a disastrous start, but we hoped for more if we look at it through the prism of the points scored.
- After Shakhtar's 0-3 defeat to Atalanta in the Champions League, don't you think Veres could have squeezed something more than a draw out of the match against the Pitmen?
- Indeed, Shakhtar played one of their worst games against Atalanta. It so happened that Atalanta was just after us and we can talk about a lot of things now. But Atalanta is the winner of the Europa League. The team that beat Bayer Leverkusen, and you know what kind of series Bayer had last season. This is a very strong team. "Shakhtar are also in the process of forming. It is clear that we all wanted more. But Atalanta today can be considered one of the grandees of European football. And they deserve it with their recent results.
Daniil Vereitin
