Midfielder of Kyiv’s Dynamo, Mykola Shaparenko commented on the away match of the 29th round of the Ukrainian championship against Odesa’s Chornomorets (1:1) and shared his emotions about winning the championship.
— Thank you for the congratulations, in turn, I also congratulate all the Dynamo fans who supported us throughout the season on winning the championship. I just want to thank them for being with us. The emotions, of course, are positive, as we went through this segment more consistently than the other teams, so I believe our championship is deserved.
— Was it a surprise for you that this season you competed for the championship not against Shakhtar, but against Oleksandriya?
— I wouldn’t say it was a surprise. Shakhtar always sets a high standard. But it is impossible to be in the top spots every year; perhaps the team had a decline. Oleksandriya is also a very good team, they have strong players, but we are better. (Smiles).
— Dynamo did not suffer a single defeat in 29 rounds; how do you assess this indicator?
— In the first part of the season, we received deserved criticism for our performance in European competitions, as we did not meet the expectations placed on us. One can account for logistics, many travels, but that’s secondary. We still had to achieve better results in European competitions. We will draw conclusions and try to demonstrate a more mature game in the future.
— What moment during the current season do you think was pivotal?
— I think after the victory over Kryvbas; that was a very tough game, a strong opponent. I believe that it was right after that victory that we understood that nobody would stop us anymore.