Football news

Famous Ukrainian coach Yuri Virt spoke about what he expects from today\'s match of the 4th round of the group stage of the Champions League between Dutch PSV and Donetsk.

“The clear favorite is PSV, I was strongly impressed by the last victory of the team from Eindhoven in the Champions League against the Spanish 'Girona'. Particularly, the hosts delighted with their execution of goal-scoring opportunities.

That Shakhtar will have a hard time tomorrow in Eindhoven is beyond doubt. However, Shakhtar has a significant 'trump card': their head coach Marino Pusic played for Dutch teams for a long time and then coached a club from the land of tulips. Thus, he knows PSV's strengths and weaknesses perfectly and understands how to play to create problems for the hosts. On the other hand, the team from Eindhoven will also try to surprise the Donetskians with some home preparations. Therefore, tomorrow we can expect spectacular football with an open game.

I think the match will be high-scoring. And one goal may not be enough for Shakhtar to hope for a draw,” Virt said.

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher commented on the disappointing results of Manchester City this season.

"Yes, that’s true. Sir Alex Ferguson was untouchable. I think Jurgen Klopp was probably untouchable at Liverpool. Manchester City would never sack Pep Guardiola, even if he didn’t win anything for two or three years. I always felt the same about Klopp at Liverpool.

If he went two or three years without winning trophies, we would still want him to be our manager. And who can you find better than Guardiola?", — quotes Carragher Sky Sports.

As previously reported, yesterday, Ukrainian forward Artem Stepanov made his debut for Bayer Leverkusen's first team. His debut took place during the match against Austrian Salzburg (5:0) in the Champions League.

As a result, Stepanov became the youngest Ukrainian in the history of the Champions League. He debuted in this tournament at the age of 17 years, 3 months, and 16 days. Thus, the forward broke Dmitry Chigrinski's record, who first played in the Champions League at the age of 18 years and 1 month.

The famous manager and expert Vyacheslav Zakhovaylo, who has long lived and worked in the Czech Republic, detailed on his Facebook page how the financing of “Victoria” Plzen is currently structured — the opponent of Kyiv’s “Dynamo” in tomorrow’s match of the 5th round of the main stage of the Europa League.

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Former midfielder of Kyiv’s Dynamo, Benjamin Verbich is on the verge of another club change.

Let us remind you that the 31-year-old Slovenian is currently a player of the Greek Panathinaikos, but at the beginning of the current season he was excluded from all of his club’s rosters, as the head coach Diego Alonso did not count on him.

All attempts by Panathinaikos to sell Verbich at a favorable price during the summer transfer window were unsuccessful, and the club did not want to let the player go for free. As a result, the player has not appeared on the field since July.

And now, according to Greek media, Panathinaikos and Verbich have agreed to an early termination of the contract by mutual consent. The Slovenian’s agreement is valid until the next summer, but it is reported that in January the midfielder will leave his current club as a free agent.

Verbich himself does not intend to end his professional career. The Slovenian club Celje has shown considerable interest in him, with whom the player has an excellent relationship. However, Verbich is currently taking time to think, as he prefers a more competitive league.

PSV head coach Peter Bosz shared his thoughts on Donetsk’s Shakhtar, with whom his team is set to play today in the 5th round of the main stage of the Champions League.

“Donetsk’s Shakhtar is a team that strives to play football. You can see it even from their goalkeeper. They play many short combinations, working quickly with the ball. They did this even in London, at times really pushing Arsenal back. Overall, I think Shakhtar lacked luck in that match and lost, possibly, undeservedly.

We know all the strengths of our opponent, and we understand how difficult it will be to show our best game against them. But everything I know about Shakhtar does not change the fact that we have to beat them.

The match on Saturday against Groningen (5:0, — ed.)? You can't even compare it, although we really played a good match. We need to switch to another level because Shakhtar is on a higher level than Groningen. The Champions League is indeed the highest level in the world. So it’s logical that most clubs in the Dutch league are on a different level,” said Bosz at the pre-match press conference.

The Ukrainian forward of Bayer Leverkusen, Artem Stepanov, made his debut for the first team of his club.

The 17-year-old footballer was included in the squad of the "pharmacists" for yesterday's match of the 5th round of the group stage of the Champions League against the Austrian team Salzburg (5:0), and in the 73rd minute he entered the game, replacing Patrick Schick.

Prior to this, the Ukrainian had only played for Bayer's youth team (U-19). In the current season, Stepanov has played 15 matches for them, scoring 11 goals.

The forward joined the Leverkusen club in 2022 as a free agent. Before that, Stepanov was a player for Donetsk's Shakhtar.

The head coach of Donetsk Shakhtar, Marino Pушич, talked about what he expects from today’s match of his team against the Dutch PSV in the 5th round of the main stage of the Champions League.

"PSV is a wonderful team. How will we stop them? By attacking them, as Johan Cruyff said. This is the best strategy. Of course, if the opponent plays better, has more possession of the ball, or pushes us back, then we will have to defend. This is not my style, but even if it happens, you have to be organized.

This is a challenge for us, because right now in the domestic championship we are a team that always takes the initiative at one hundred percent, scores more goals, creates more chances, and spends most of the time in the opponent's half of the field. And when you play against such an opponent in the Champions League, you know that sometimes you will also have to be in your own half. And I must say that we show in big matches that we are capable of this as well. This is not our style, but if necessary, we must play like this. But the best way to defend, as I have already said, is to regain the initiative and also attack, to have possession of the ball.

It seems that Johan Cruyff, the smartest coach of all time, said that. And he is one hundred percent right. We will try to act this way. Will we succeed? I don't know, we will see," said Pushich at the pre-match press conference.

“Tottenham” plans to strengthen the team during the winter transfer window.

According to teamTALK, the “Spurs” are targeting Inter midfielder Davide Frattesi. The 25-year-old player has been getting little playing time under Simone Inzaghi, losing out to competitors Nicolo Barella and Hakan Calhanoglu.

“Tottenham” will have to pay around 35 million euros to see Frattesi in North London.

Neymar's father commented on media information regarding the future of the star Brazilian.

"We see a lot of speculation around him… I know that the whole market is waiting for Neymar's return. He always comes back better than before. This time will be no different," said Neymar's father on the RoundCast broadcast.

Earlier, it was reported that the forward of "Al-Hilal" is approaching a return to his childhood club, "Santos".

Some matches of the Champions League took place. Here are their results.

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Former Ukraine national team player Oleg Shelaev spoke about what he expects from tomorrow’s match of the main stage of the Champions League between Dutch PSV and Donetsk Shakhtar.

"Since the opponents are close to each other in the standings, as they say, it will be a battle for six points. I assess the chances as 70 to 30 in favor of PSV.

I follow the Dutch championship, and PSV’s play makes a strong impression. Moreover, the rivalry will take place in Eindhoven, where the hosts will have strong fan support.

PSV is an aggressive team, its players are strong in duels, and they have active flanks. It will be difficult for Shakhtar to withstand the pressure from the opponent. However, it is not excluded that the miners may benefit from quick counterattacks and home-prepared set pieces," said Shelaev.