The head coach of Donetsk «Shakhtar» Marino Pusic commented on his team’s defeat against London’s «Arsenal» (0:1) in the match of the 3rd round of the group stage of the Champions League that took place yesterday in the capital of England.
Marino Pusic«I saw my philosophy again, especially in the second half. I saw this character of the team again, as well as a great desire to win and achieve results. I also told my players that I am very proud of them, of how they showed themselves and what they displayed. You can imagine how difficult it is to play against such an incredible team — in my opinion, a very strong one, perhaps one of the best in Europe.
Playing away, we understood that the opponent would act very powerfully in the first half, with a lot of movements and individual qualities, but we also defended quite well and had our moments. In particular, at the end of the match we had opportunities to equalize the score. But I always say that it is better to lose while adhering to your philosophy than to lose without it.
All my players deserve praise for how we played, showed themselves, and worked hard. Because, as you understand, in the domestic championship we are not forced to defend low — actually, we never defend low. So it’s a huge challenge when you play in the Champions League against an opponent of such quality, when you are pushed back to defend in a low block. We had the right strategy, it worked quite well, the guys implemented it very well. Because we are a team that in our championship mainly has about 70−75% ball possession. And it is not easy to mentally switch to the opposite, but we achieved it. And this is a great success for my team.
Considering how we played in the second half, in my opinion, we definitely deserved a goal. We weren’t always lucky and lacked the skill in finishing to create even more chances, but there were a number of moments. I said that it was very close, and we pursued that goal until the end of the game. This is what I demanded from my team and how I made substitutions: I involved all our attacking forces in the game. I couldn’t substitute Riznyk because we needed a goalkeeper, but I considered substituting him to score a goal. However, you also have to deal with the quality of the opponent, playing against «Arsenal» away. It’s a great team, as I’ve said before, so they can defend well too. So we put in all our efforts, and once again I’ll say that I’m proud of my team and our performance.
To be honest, we knew that there are certain opponents in the Champions League against whom you have a real chance of getting a result, and there are those where you think: this will be very difficult. «Arsenal» is one of them. If you look at it realistically, it’s impossible to say that «Shakhtar» will come to London and beat «Arsenal». But we tried, we did everything possible. That’s why I am very proud of my players and how we played,» said Pusic.
