The head coach of Donetsk’s «Shakhtar», Arda Turan, commented on his team’s defeat by Warsaw’s «Legia» (1:2) in yesterday’s match of the 2nd round of the group stage of the Conference League.
Arda Turan. Photo — shakhtar.com«First of all, I want to congratulate „Legia“. If a team beats you, it probably did more right things than you did. As for us, we tried to stay true to our game plan, but at the start of the match, our duels and concentration level were insufficient.
After conceding the goal, we performed throws very slowly and also got up slowly after fouls. It did not look like the behavior of a team that was trailing. I mentioned this to my players in the locker room, and subsequently, we took control of the game. I am proud of the level of play in the second half, as we had 18−19-year-old guys in attack. This was a team made of our future. They played wonderfully, but they need to learn to act correctly in key moments—and we will work on that and improve.
Regarding the defeat: I take full responsibility, but it is also the kind of defeat we can compensate for in the future. We look forward optimistically, so we will prepare and focus our attention on the big game on Sunday.
This was a match we can compensate for, we can recover later. That’s why we chose such a lineup. Otherwise, the Conference League is more important to us than anything else, but we are forced to act this way because we have long journeys and constantly face many injuries. If you look in general, all Ukrainian teams that play in Europe are doing the same due to certain border difficulties and long travels.
Of course, players can be tired, it’s absolutely natural, as the conditions are very difficult. The country is at war, and I don’t want to use it as an excuse, but for a professional football player, an athlete, it is extremely hard to show results in such circumstances and after long travels. „Polissya“ faced the same thing, as did Kyiv „Dynamo“ and us. We are trying to minimize the impact of these factors, but we have to take such a risk. We simply have no choice,» said Turan at the post-match press conference.
