The head coach of the youth team of Shakhtar, Olexiy Belyk, commented on his team’s loss in the UEFA Youth League Round of 16 match against Hoffenheim (1:5).
“A difficult game with a negative result. This is not the outcome we hoped for, and if we have to leave the competition, it certainly should not be in this way.
The second goal broke the flow of the game: Drozd was on the flank with the ball and tried to pass it back to our player, but the ball accidentally hit his hand, allowing the opponent to seize it. This led to a penalty and a second yellow card for Milokost, making the score 2:0. Under such circumstances, it was hard to expect a positive result.
Despite the low level of refereeing, we must acknowledge that our game also left much to be desired. We did not demonstrate the football we should have shown and did not deserve victory or advancement to the next stage. The third conceded goal clearly characterizes our play: the defenders and the goalkeeper made mistakes that could have been avoided. At the same time, Baglai was the first to reach the ball during the clearance, but the opponent, who pressured the goalkeeper, simply collided with him. In that episode, there was both our mistake and a mistake by the referee, which generally reflects the course of events on the field.
There are both subjective and objective reasons for our defeat. “Hoffenheim U-19” is the reigning champion of the youth championship in Germany, consisting of players who regularly gain playing experience in the first team at the Bundesliga level.
Despite everything, I believe we achieved a significant result. Could we have performed better? Certainly. I am proud of the guys and the work done and grateful to them for this. Of course, there is a certain residue left after the last match, but even playing against a more experienced team, in certain episodes, we should have acted differently. Overall, it’s a matter of a few days: we will analyze our mistakes and draw conclusions.
I also want to emphasize that the match broadcast was absent, and people reading the media may think that a tragedy has occurred. I understand that the media use “loud” headlines, but I urge not to trust conditional Flashscore and to check official sources. We had two red cards, not three. The first was the result of a second warning, meaning a work moment. The second was Bashmarin's red card after the game: due to emotions, he kicked the ball towards the opponents celebrating their victory. I had a conversation with him, although I understand that it is hard to hold back emotions when playing on the opponent's field under conditions where the referees openly support them,” Belyk is quoted by the official site of Shakhtar.