The central defender of Dynamo Kyiv U-19, Vladyslav Zacharenko, shared his emotions after yesterday’s UEFA Youth League match against Swedish Brommapojkarna (1:0), in which he scored the only goal.
Vladyslav Zacharenko— Of course, it’s nice that we won. It was a difficult game, especially with the red card in the 30th minute... But we understood that if we stuck to the game plan, we could win, hold on, and not let them score a goal.
— You are one of the players born in 2006 who was included in the lineup for the game. You’ve also trained and made your debut for the first team of Dynamo. How much did this experience help in the Youth League today?
— Of course, this experience gives you more confidence, which is very important in football. Training with the first team helps you start thinking faster and more correctly. It definitely helps when you come here to assist the guys.
— You faced off against Scandinavians — quite robust and well-built guys. Yet, the only goal was scored with a header from the 'second floor'...
— It doesn’t matter who the opponents are. It was just a good cross, and I was in the right place and managed to score.
— What was the plan for the second half, considering the team was playing with one less player?
— We practically didn’t change our tactics for the second half, everything remained the same. We played from a low block, and we had really good moments when we intercepted the ball and broke into counterattacks. So we could have scored even more.
Of course, I want to thank the guys for giving their all on the field today. We had to play more without the ball because our player got sent off. But it didn’t hinder us; we defended well.
— Ahead is the return match. The score is 1:0, a slight advantage. It will be difficult anyway, especially as the match in Stockholm will be on an artificial pitch. How much of an advantage will this be for the opponent?
— The field and the ball are the same for everyone. I think it won’t play any role. We will prepare to play on an artificial pitch. I think nothing will change for us.
— Today, Dynamo had a noticeable group of supporters...
— It’s always nice when your team gets support; it adds some excitement and emotions. It’s great that even when we play outside Ukraine, kids come and cheer for us. It’s very pleasant.
