Mircea Lucescu: Players’ thoughts are already in Bilbao 

A press conference by the head coach of Shakhtar after winning in Odesa. 

- We thought it would be a tough game. And so it happened. By and large, it was like that until the second goal. We completely bossed it from the first until the last minute, but, unfortunately, the score was very volatile. It’s true that Chornomorets also had a very good chance, they could have levelled it, and who knows how it would have ended then. I want to highlight a good functional condition of Odesa, the good organization of the game. Plus full dedication of all the players without exception, they pressed well throughout the meeting. I can also mention their excellent discipline. They fulfilled everything their coach had told them to. On my part, I'm happy with the result and the three points we have claimed away. I am also pleased with my team’s performance. On Wednesday, we are facing a difficult encounter. I think all thoughts of the players are already in Bilbao. I want to mention the audience who supported them well today. So far, of course, our support is not as good as that of our opponents. Today, I watched the match Barcelona - Athletic, plus in Bilbao a completely different atmosphere awaits us, which will stimulate primarily the home team. I can feel that they support the team well in Odesa, but I think they should fill the stands completely at such games. Although today there were quite a lot of fans - more than at our other matches. 

- What is the likelihood of someone from Kryvtsov - Ordets tandem playing on Wednesday night against Athletic? 
- Let's see in what form they will be. We still have four more days. We will analyze the opponents’ performance, the parameters of Athletic’s players. Depending on this, we will take decisions regarding the central defenders. If they had played today, they probably deserved it. Kucher had some issues, Rakitskiy is suspended, so we picked this pair. Basically, we had no other options, but it did not affect my idea of fielding just them today. 

- What does the logo of the humanitarian foundation on the player shirts mean to the coach and the team? 
- We help people who got in a difficult situation. We also help the children who are in the war zone. Those in need receive medication, that is, we help them with everything we can. Especially the children who are in the area of conflict. This is what concerns the team. As for SCM – their level is quite different and, of course, the volumes are different. 

- Mister, a lot has changed in our football since last season: the supporters, the fans. But, unfortunately, the refs’ preference is still for the leaders. Can it be the cornerstone of the footballers’ perception of playing discipline, according to you? In terms of interfering with your team at the international level? 
- But what can you point out today - what problems in terms of refereeing? I haven’t got a single complaint to the officials. Therefore, I do not want to answer the questions that are not related to football - at least to today's game. Of course, any fan will support their team. But they must be objective. Had you had a T-shirt of a different color, maybe I would have answered your question differently ... 

- Next time, I’ll come in Shakhtar’s shirt. 
- Welcome. (Laughs.) 

- Several Shakhtar players could not take part in today's match. Do you follow their performance at Chornomorets? Is it likely that in the future they will be allowed to play? It would be interesting if they could help Chornomorets. 
- I do not forbid any loaned footballer to play for our team. Not a single one! This applies to all the teams who take part in the league. I want to see everyone, to watch them firsthand. One day it happened when we played against Luhansk-based Zorya – I forbade Vytsenets to appear. This is the only case over the years. He is very aggressive - hence often injured. And everyone else can play, no restrictions for them. It all depends on the management, on the agreements and contracts. And for my part, there are no claims or prohibitions. The same thing happened with Zorya ... I received a letter: “Six people – can they be fielded?” All six, without exception, those who belong to Shakhtar, will take part in the match. Can beat us? Please. 

- Given that Bernard delayed his return to the club, did you talk to him to build his awareness? Or in this situation, you approach the relationship with the players in a fatherly way? 
- He has a five-year contract. He is our player. And he should understand our programme. There was a long break, and he, of course, needs to prove his level. You know what kind of competition we have in the team. He who wins it will be fielded. All the players are top-level. And we cannot say that in this respect Bernard’s level is higher than that of other performers. He is of the same level with Teixeira, Douglas, Taison, Marlos and all the rest. He who is stronger, who proves himself in the best way, who works for the team – will be fielded in the starting XI. 

- It’s clear legal side wise. I meant the human factor. 
- Even if he did not understand that he did wrong by being late, some time later, perhaps, he will understand it and be well aware of it. 



Roman Hryhorchuk: We have major weaknesses offensively

Post-match comment by the head coach of Odesa-based Chornomorets. 

- The team have not scored for a long time. Do you have issues with that? 
- I won’t say that we have issues - we have major weaknesses offensively. Today it affected the result. To achieve it, we must threaten to score and generally play football ourselves, to attack and try to have the lead. Hoping for defence, for counterattacking? I do not want to instill this kind of football in them. We have to learn to play it right. Attacking football allows you to secure the result consistently. Counterattacking football – that’s something occasional ad rare. I understand that we need to step it up significantly in terms of attacking, and for that every player should try to do everything possible to raise the level of individual skill as well. We learn from the good teams. Shakhtar is a very good team, with a good selection of players. We need to learn from them, to see how the people attain the result. Attacking moves tend to have one player carrying the ball and beating one opponent. Today, it so happened that one of their footballers beat two of our players - and they hammered us. It is very difficult to achieve a result, when the opponent has the advantage in some zones of the field in terms of individual skill. But we see what we have to work on. Today, I would not speak in sad tones, I do not have unbelief. We have been better than recently. I saw it at last training sessions. We worked very hard. I was very much looking forward to the period associated with international duty. We managed to do a good job, and we have stepped it up. But you should understand that even the level which we have hardly reached, is still insufficient to produce a positive against thelikes of Shakhtar. 

- Replacing Balashov with Opanasenko. Is Opanasenko’s playing position changing? 
- We have known him for a long time. Of course, I used to know another Opanasenko, a much stronger one. That Opanasenko, from Zaporizhya-based Metalurh, was a very decent player and could play equally well in two roles – an attacking winger and a defender. Now he's lost a lot. But he has a chance to return to the former level, which I rely upon. 

- What made you field Yevhen Past? Is Bezotosnyi all right? 
- No. I cannot say that he is all right, because he injured his finger during the warm-up, and we had to replace him before the game. Past came on, Martyshchuk was a sub player. 

- After a long break we’ve seen Ivan Bobko on the pitch. In what form is he now? 
- I believe in all the players. But Bobko is the man, I am absolutely sure, who will be playing at the right level. And, even knowing that he, for objective reasons, cannot be in good shape, in the desired tone, I still try to support him as much as possible. And I will do my best to have him reach the desired level asap. Currently, Bobko is not the one we got used to, but it does not mean that today he was bad. He was quite helpful, but we expect much more of him. 

- In what mood and condition did Kovalchuk return from the national team? 
- Kyrylo, having received the invitation, has become very different. Not that he was bad, but now he is good, he was also good previously, a serious football player and individual. But now he has risen to a higher level in terms of his attitude to football. He has received what is important for a person to receive: the result of his patient and long-term work. He was going towards it, he went, he believed, he suffered and succeeded to fulfill his dream. I see that he is so motivated that he wants to reach even higher and get even stronger. I wish him every success, because due to his attitude he deserves the very best in football.

- Why did the reserves play on the same day with the first teams? 
- This is not a system, just a single case. It was Shakhtar’s request. And, of course, we could not refuse them this, because in such situations, people need to meet each other halfway. We have great respect for Shakhtar and took this step. In real life it happens that on the day when both the reserves and the first team play, we lost our goalkeeper. Although goalkeepers, moving away from your question, also might face it. It seems that three goalkeepers is a lot, but there are dozens of examples of the goalkeepers at very different levels. For instance – Arsenal, London: a goalie suffers an injury, the second one gets injured. One of the three is left, who also gets injured in the next game. Therefore, there must be three goalkeepers. And today’s case is just an accident. This happens rarely. But we still had to act as we did. 

- Is Yavorskyi’s appearance five minutes from time credit of trust to Fomin or lack of trust to Yavorskyi? 
- We are currently very much engaged with the young blood. Almost all of the U-21 players train with us from time to time. For us to understand their level, their progress. We keep an eye on all of them. When a young player trains with the first team, everything can be seen very well, we can assess him objectively. We slightly bring them up to this level, so that they are closer to this football. But their level does not correspond to the Premier League one so far. I just wanted him to come out and register that he played in the top flight. Maybe it will be another incentive for him. But currently, I can field him or Kabayev just like this (the latter is born in 1995) so far … Though they do not match the desired level yet. But we believe that they will reach it asap. 

- Mister said that he is not against the players loaned by Shakhtar to play against his team. 
- I'll tell you my take on it. There was a document in which it was stated that the players are not allowed to play. My stance is this: even if such document didn’t exist, I do not want the loaned players to play against their club. And I do not want my players to play against me either. I believe that it is wrong. That is my point of view for today. Maybe I will change it in a month or over years. But today, I think so. And we are very grateful to Shakhtar for their giving us the players. We will do our best for them to have the match practice, to help us to get back to their club, well, God grant, making progress.