— I think you may have noticed that even when we were in the majority, we didn’t particularly capitalize on ball control. At halftime, we made certain adjustments to our game, determined how we wanted to use the numerical advantage, and how to press in these conditions. If you press correctly, then you
are more stable with the ball, work with it more comfortably, and in the end, this will tire the opponent and force them to make mistakes or open up. That’s exactly what happened, and that’s what we aimed for.
Scoring four goals in 20 minutes is impressive. It doesn’t matter that it was done with a numerical advantage: a team with one less player on the roster plays very defensively, and it’s not so easy to capitalize on the numerical advantage. Moreover, a team like Kyiv “Dynamo” will look for their moments at the opponent’s goal under any circumstances.
To score four goals away, keep our goal intact, and do this against Kyiv “Dynamo” is a great compliment to our entire team.
— Did you expect more from “Dynamo”?
— Good question. I expected a very strong opponent, and we got it. “Dynamo” was very unfortunate to receive a red card so early. Therefore, they had to change their plans. But even under these conditions, we found it hard to play in the first half. “Dynamo” had two or three good moments, even when they were outnumbered. So we needed the break to reorganize and return to the game with a new quality. We showed that quality, dominated in the second half, and scored four goals.
But, I repeat, “Dynamo” posed difficulties for us. We expected that. So in any case, despite this score, “Dynamo” remains a good team.
Alexander POPOV from Hamburg
Pascal Jansen. Photo — A. Popov
