Former striker Viktor Hrachov shared his thoughts on tomorrow’s Champions League match between Shakhtar and Bayern Munich.
— Viktor Oleksandrovych, I’ll start with such a question: do you remember the last match between Shakhtar and the Munich club, or rather the score with which it ended?
— Well, you started off with something. Honestly, I don’t remember. Remind me, please.
— In the 2014/2015 season, the miners suffered their biggest defeat in history in the return match of the Champions League Round of 16— 0:7. Should we expect a repeat of such a scenario regarding the Donetsk team?
— Considering the power of the German club, what can I say, Shakhtar has very little chance of at least securing a draw. Minimal. Moreover, Bayern already has a certain lead in the Bundesliga (+6 points over Eintracht — ed.). And this allows Vincent Kompany to perform some rotation in the squad, and his players to be more relaxed. Because they started their performances in the Champions League rather poorly: losing to Aston Villa (0:1) and Barcelona (1:4). There was indeed solid pressure on the Munich club players.
I would point out Bayern’s solid defense. You might say, what about the two goals conceded from Dinamo Zagreb? Well, in response, they conceded nine. Conversely, they played cleanly against Benfica and PSG (two victories with the same score of 1:0 — ed.).
It’s concerning that Shakhtar is currently unstable. It’s hard to predict how the team will play, in what scheme. But if they play in Gelsenkirchen like they did in Eindhoven (loss to PSV 2:3 after leading 2:0 — ed.)… What was that?
— That was an attempt by Pushych to play PSV’s game, as I see it. Open, fast, sharply attacking, but not on Savka’s level, it turned out. By the way, that red card for Pedro Henrique affected the game, after all.
— Playing with ten men doesn’t automatically mean losing the rest of the match. Well, there are substitutions! Why didn’t the coach make them on time, didn’t try to disrupt PSV’s tempo?
If Shakhtar tries to play open football against Bayern — it will be suicide! And also, you know, I still can’t quite figure out this new format of the Champions League (laughs). This table is endless. Some go straight to the Round of 16, others to the Round of 32…
The further Shakhtar plays in the Champions League, the more unpredictable they become. I really don’t know what to expect… In the UPL, Shakhtar is not performing at their best, and it's not going well in Europe either.
— The match against Bayern — is it a showcase for Sudakov to finally sell himself?
— Not only for him, and not only the match against the Munich superclub. If Sudakov wants to be sold finally, not for three pennies, but for a decent sum that Shakhtar will let him go for, he must demonstrate a consistently high level not only in the UPL but also in European competitions.
He is now 22 years old — in the prime of his strength. He already has enough experience, but he lacks, I repeat, stability. I would say he needs to be sold already. Zhora risks losing market value.
— But it could be like with Mudryk. They sold him, bagged a lot of money from Chelsea, and missing poor Mykhailo spends his second season moping in the long evenings in the Foggy Albion.
— I cannot, frankly, understand what’s wrong with Mudryk at Chelsea. Either the gameplay schemes are not right, or the team’s partners and the coach do not see his best playing qualities. Surely, he gives instructions to reveal them…
You know, Mudryk reminds me of myself at that age. It’s not self-promotion (laughs). He has crazy dribbling technique, luxurious speed, good football intelligence, and in Chelsea, they don’t understand how to use him. Well, who does it concern? Probably to Enzo Maresca. Although he is currently dragging the Blues almost to gold in the EPL (the gap from Liverpool is 4 points — ed.).
Mudryk is afraid to take on dribbles in EPL matches or is he consciously given such a task? But he can take on two or three defenders and score or make a decisive pass.
— Moving on, not about Mudryk. What is your prediction for the match between Shakhtar — Bayern?
— You started with a question that stumped me and you finish with the same (laughs). I’ll predict a high-scoring draw 2:2. Let fate repay for the lost victory in Eindhoven against PSV.
Oleksandr Pupchenko
