Next Thursday, October 24, Kyiv "Dynamo" will play in Rome against local "Roma" within the framework of the 3rd round of the main stage of the Europa League. The day before, a scheduled pre-match press conference of the head coach of the Ukrainian team Alexander Shovkovsky took place in the conference room of the Roman stadium “Stadio Olimpico”, which will host this match.
— In the Ukrainian championship, “Dynamo” scores a lot, concedes little, but in European competitions, everything is the opposite. What is the reason? (Question from an Italian journalist).
— You must understand what is happening in our country. We should be very grateful to our authorities, the President of Ukraine, that by a decisive decision, they allowed the Ukrainian championship to take place. To take place in a country where a war is ongoing.
Currently, all our teams have certain problems — financial issues, logistics, attracting qualified legionnaires. All this also leads to negative consequences regarding the quality of play that we would like to show both in the Ukrainian championship and in European competitions.
The Europa League is the second-ranked European club tournament after the Champions League. It features teams that, although they did not qualify for the Champions League, also play at a very high level and almost always compete in European cups. When we talk about football in Ukraine, we talk about survival, and when discussing an international tournament, we gain certain experience and do everything possible to grow, to reach the level of Serie A, which is among the top five leagues in Europe. This is important experience for us, significant matches; we see potential opportunities and strive to do everything to grow in matches against teams that are at a top level.
I really hope that the war will end soon, and we will be able to develop, do everything to catch up with the European level, so that football in Ukraine reaches a high level.
— Who from your team’s lineup will not be able to play tomorrow?
— You will learn the lineup for the game tomorrow. But Yarmolenko will definitely not play. We all congratulated him today on his 35th birthday; unfortunately, the injury does not allow him to play tomorrow. Pykhalenok, Shepelev, and Ceballos will also definitely not help us in tomorrow's match.
— What impression did “Roma” leave on you in the match against “Inter”? Did you see anything new in the play of this team?
— If we speak in general, “Roma” does not score that much, but they concede very little. However, at the same time, they have a very high percentage of shots on goal. This indicates that “Roma” seeks to play attacking, fast football. The team often scores in the second half — this means they are in good physical shape. Finally, it is worth noting a certain status quo: “Roma” has the same number of wins and losses.
As for the match between “Roma” and “Inter,” it was approximately equal. However, there was an individual mistake: a player from “Roma” slipped, which led to a quick counterattack that allowed “Inter” to score a goal. “Roma” also had good opportunities to score against the opponent.
Dovbyk gave “Roma” additional opportunities that the team uses.
In short, I fully understand that we are facing a very challenging match with a team that represents one of the strongest European leagues. We will strive to use the moments we saw in “Roma's” game both in defense and in attack.
Besides Shovkovsky, midfielder of “Dynamo” also attended the pre-match press conference Report on his communication with the media >>>
Alexander POPOV from Rome
