The head coach of Turkish Beşiktaş, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, talked about what he expects from his team’s first match against Donetsk’s Shakhtar in the second qualifying round of the Europa League, which will take place today in Istanbul.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær"Finally, official matches are starting, which we have been eagerly waiting for. Shakhtar is a good and strong team. A team that can cause us difficulties. So I expect two important matches. And we are ready for them.
We have a dream - to reach the final of this Europa League (the final match will be held in Istanbul at Beşiktaş stadium, - ed.). I can say that it motivates us. To reach the final, you need to give 100 percent. You need to be disciplined and work hard every day.
To achieve the goal, you must always stay focused. I can give the example of hurdle races. There are many obstacles in front of you, and to achieve results, you need to overcome these obstacles - one after the other. The nearest obstacle is always the highest. In this sense, we need to constantly focus on each successive obstacle. Ahead of us are two high-level matches against Shakhtar. So for starters, we need to get past this opponent.
We will reflect our game and our mentality on the field. Our main goal is to dominate the opponent with our game. To establish our authority over the opponent. We have our own criteria. Our criteria include dominating the game, attacking, and advancing. We want to delight our fans.
We have been working on our tactics for ten days and applying it. As you know, Tammy Abraham has joined us. We can play differently than we did last year. I’m not saying we will definitely play differently, but with Abraham’s arrival, we can play another way.
Every match is an important match. For me, all matches are equally important. I am always focused on the upcoming match. Shakhtar is a good team, with a good coach, Arda Turan. He has a rich football experience. He has achieved great success in Europe. Last year, he was the coach of Eyüpspor, and now he is embarking on an adventure with a great team. But I hope to create big difficulties for him as a coach on Thursday.
Donetsk’s Shakhtar has a quality coach and quality players. They have young talents. I know they will cause us problems. We need to find solutions to these problems. And we need to create problems for the opponent ourselves. I know we will be playing against a good team and need to put on our best match. We have our fans, and we will take advantage of our home stadium. Our opponent plays their matches in Poland. I think this will also give us an advantage," said Solskjær at the pre-match press conference.
