Famous Ukrainian coach Yuriy Virt shared what he expects from today’s match of the 4th round of the group stage of the Champions League between Donetsk’s Shakhtar and Swiss Young Boys.
— Yuriy Mykolaiovych, can we call the match against Young Boys crucial for Shakhtar at this stage of the Champions League, given that the miners currently have only one point and very vague chances for the playoffs?
— Let’s start with the fact that I believe Shakhtar is undoubtedly the favorite and must finally achieve its first victory in this season of the Champions League. If they cannot beat Young Boys, then who should they beat? With all due respect to the Swiss team, they are of a lower class than Donetsk in terms of player selection.
This season, the team from Bern has been playing poorly; they have lost all three games in the Champions League (0:3 to Aston Villa, 0:5 to Barcelona, 0:1 to Milan's Inter, — ed. note) and are among the outsiders in the domestic championship, sitting third from the bottom (tenth place out of 12 teams, — ed. note).
Shakhtar can definitely handle Young Boys. The miners should finally please their fans with a victory.
And, of course, this match will be extremely important for Shakhtar, crucial, because if they cannot collect three points, then they can probably forget about European spring. Ahead are matches against PSV, Munich's Bayern, Brest, and Dortmund's Borussia... To put it mildly, the schedule is tough.
— Shakhtar has been promoting an attractive attacking game for decades, but this season the team of Marino Pusic, to put it mildly, has not been on fire in the European arena. What is the reason for the rather pale performance of the Donetsk team specifically in the euro arena?
— Everyone notes this. Not just you, but all football people. If they cannot play beautifully, then there is only one explanation — the level of this team… Low compared to Shakhtar from past years.
So far this season, I can recall literally a few truly classy matches by Shakhtar: against Obolon (4:0), with Vorskla (5:0), and LNZ (5:1). That’s all. And, note, all matches were in the domestic arena and against not the strongest teams of the Ukrainian Premier League.
Why has Shakhtar's play become so unremarkable? That is a question for the head coach and probably the sports director Dario Srna, who invited him to the club. They should have told him [Pusic] at the beginning of the collaboration how they see Shakhtar, what their long-standing philosophy is.
— After the thrashing by Atalanta, Shakhtar seems to have found its game. Yes, there was a loss to London’s Arsenal (0:1), but it was minimal, there was a draw with Dynamo in the UPL (1:1), but it can be explained by the strength of the opponent and playing in the minority for a long time.
— No… Shakhtar finds it very hard to earn points in the UPL. Yes, results have improved, but, for example, the game with Chornomorets (2:1) did not please me, although Shakhtar won. A lot of ball control — and that’s it. I’m sure fans do not appreciate this kind of game from the miners. The quality of play needs to be improved.
You know, if Shakhtar played like this in Donetsk, there would definitely be more whistles than applause at the Donbass Arena. Sometimes it is better to lose, but with dignity, when you create 15 scoring chances and hit the target thirty times, but the ball stubbornly does not go into the net.
— Your longtime teammate at Shakhtar, Andriy Vorobey, said in one interview that, in his opinion, this team is the weakest in recent seasons. Do you agree?
— Yes and no. Because, I repeat, the results are more or less there, the situation in the UPL can still be corrected — and in the Champions League too, but the quality of play is definitely limping and needs to be improved.
Recalling the last match in the UPL against Chornomorets: a very easy victory, but the entire second half, the Donetsk team just strolled on the field, simply finishing the game. Probably, Shakhtar was already saving energy for the Champions League, for all these travels and recoveries. In general, for such teams like Chornomorets, I don’t want to offend the Odesites, but they need to score four or five goals.
We have a good example: Dynamo smashed Inhulets to smithereens before their game in the Europa League. That was beautiful.
— How can Pusic avoid dropping points against Young Boys? What is your action plan?
— The team can play as reliably as possible in defense, but if they are not equally effective in attack, then Shakhtar will not see victories. Pusic’s team must put pressure on the opponent from the very first minutes, play aggressive, intense football, transfer the game immediately to Young Boys' half, and apply high pressing. Only in this way, in my opinion, can victory be achieved.
— Your prediction for the game from Yuriy Virt.
— I bet on the victory of the Ukrainian team with a score of 2:1.
Viktor Glukhenky