The head coach of Donetsk "Shakhtar," Arda Turan, spoke about his attitude toward participating in this tournament ahead of the confrontation with the Swiss "Servette" in the playoff round of the Conference League.
“The Conference League is very important and valuable for us. We are happy to represent our country, Ukraine, at this level. But first, we need to get through the playoff matches. We need to take it match by match. We perceive tomorrow’s game as an important final, as our opponent got to the Conference League after several other important qualifying rounds of European cups, just like us. We will show the same seriousness and must play as responsibly as possible. We want to gain an advantage already from the first match, we want results.
Last year, the Conference League final was between Chelsea and Betis. In life, you need to show respect for where you are, for your position. Regarding the Conference League, it’s not just about focusing, but about fulfilling our dreams. We really want to play in the main stage and move on to the next stages. We have a young team. Yes, Shakhtar has had great successes in its history. But we need success in Europe, we need to be successful on the European stage. This is not just focus—it’s a dream for us because we want to make our fans and the people in Ukraine happy,” Turan said at the press conference dedicated to the first match against "Servette."