Legendary Volyn coach Vitaliy Kvartsiany shared his impressions of yesterday’s Ukrainian Cup 1/8 finals match between Kyiv Dynamo and Donetsk Shakhtar (2−1).
Vitaliy Kvartsiany— Vitaliy Volodymyrovych, how did you find yesterday’s battle between Dynamo and Shakhtar, did you enjoy the first Ukrainian Classico of this season?
— I have mixed feelings from yesterday’s match... Actually, the match itself wasn’t very high quality. A typical cup game — a principal one, but there are questions about the quality of the game of both teams. Yesterday one team played well in the first half, and the other — in the second.
Dynamo’s goalkeeper Neshcheret played very well, and Shakhtar squeezed everything they could in the first half, and they just didn’t have enough for the second. The Donetsk team lacked the strength to equalize and bring the game into a penalty shootout, or maybe they were saving energy for the Sunday game.
— Who knows, who knows... We’ll discuss the Sunday game later. Right now, everyone is actively discussing Yarmolenko’s new role and position, as Shovkovskyi decided to make him a forward towards the end of his career. How do you feel about this decision from your colleague in the coaching staff?
— I’ll tell you this: neither Dynamo nor Shakhtar currently have a good striker! That surprises me. The central forward is a pivotal position, around which the backbone of the team is formed.
— You say there’s no striker in Dynamo, but what about Guerrero? He’s been scoring in consecutive matches.
— He’s not a striker at the level of a team like Dynamo. Maybe he’ll get better... Yes, he’s scored, but it’s domestic league play, not international competitions, where he hasn’t been productive. That’s what you have to look at — the level of opponents he scores against. Well, they signed him, and it’s hard to invite a quality striker to Ukraine, given the war, so something will do...
As for Yarmolenko, the central striker is clearly not his position, even though he scored against Shakhtar, and with his right foot no less. (Smiles). He just found himself in the right place, at the right time, but — good on him. He played the match against Shakhtar at a decent level.
— I can’t help but ask you about another central player, but not a forward, a defender. I’m talking about Dynamo’s Tiare; you like such juggernauts. Yesterday, Mykhavko replaced Aliu in the starting lineup. Does this mean Shovkovskyi favored the Ukrainian over the Senegalese?
— To answer this question precisely, you need to be inside the team. Maybe Tiare was somewhat tired. In general, he integrated into Dynamo quite quickly, and he’s definitely a promising player. A decent destroyer. But he still has a lot to work on.
As for Mykhavko, Taras is a candidate for the Ukrainian national team. I think Rebov watched the Dynamo and Shakhtar game, so maybe Shovkovskyi consciously put him in to show, so to speak. Because if something happens to Matviyenko, it’s Mykhavko who could replace him in the national team.
— One of the key substitutions in yesterday’s game, in my opinion, was Brajko coming on in the midfield. Do you share this opinion?
— He played well, integrated into the game immediately, didn’t wander on the field. Guerrero also shined, scoring the winning goal. Shovkovskyi’s coaching intuition didn’t fail him.
— The first Ukrainian Classico of the 2025/26 season is now history, and it was left behind by Shovkovskyi, who faced Shakhtar Turan for the first time. Ahead, very soon, already on Sunday, is the second match of SaSho against Arda. Will Akhmetov fire the star Turk if there’s a second loss to the white and blues?
— Akhmetov went through a rough period with Lucescu, so I don’t think Turan will be dismissed, as the Shakhtar president is banking on long-term cooperation with this coach.
Turan is currently in a tough situation with the lineup, as they sold two key attacking players — Kevin and Sudakov. Plus, Alisson is injured and without him, the miners' attacking potential is significantly diminished.
So now Arda is searching for replacements, experimenting with the squad. Overall, Shakhtar is fine. They’re in first place in the UPL, haven’t lost anything in European competition yet. Knocked out of the Cup — well, it happens, someone had to lose yesterday, it was a cup game. We’ll see what happens on Sunday.
— Finally, from everything you’ve said, I think we can conclude that in the Ukrainian Cup 1/8 finals match, Dynamo defeated Shakhtar because Shovkovskyi tactically outplayed Turan?
— I agree, Shovkovskyi outplayed Turan. The Kyiv team improved in the second half, and the Donetsk team faltered physically... Dynamo defeated Shakhtar deservedly.
Viktor Glukhenskyi
