Douglas Costa: Olimpik will focus on defence

14-03-15 08:13:12

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The Pitmen’s midfielder has shared his expectations of the upcoming derby.

- Shakhtar know Olimpik well, playing also a number of friendlies with this club. Have the team changed after making a debut in the top flight?
- I think they have become more confident. Any team that win promotion to the top flight realize that they have become better; players’ responsibility increases. We know Olimpik very well and are now trying to discover all of their ‘new things’ to avoid surprises on the field.

- The opponents are sitting sixth place in the standings. Does this position correspond to football, which Olimpik show?
- Most likely, yes. I am sure they will do everything possible to continue to climb the ladder.

- After the last match with Olimpik, Dynamo’s coach noted that the Donetsk side had tight defence. How are you going to carve this defence open?
- Not only Olimpik, but other Ukrainian teams play against Shakhtar very tightly too. So we need to act intelligently, make accurate passes to penetrate this defence and score.

- In the first half of the championship Shakhtar beat Olimpik 5-0, because the opponents gave in. Are you ready for the fact that they may take that account and try to play very defensively?
- Yes, as I said, I'm sure they will put a lot of emphasis on defence. And we need to remember all the things we were taught during training and other games, and not to make mistakes, but go forward and score.

- What conclusions were drawn from the last two unsuccessful games? What did Mister pay special attention to?
- Unfortunately, in recent games we have not quite worked well in some situations. I think that after these games we will not make such mistakes. These two games taught us a lot. The main thing is to realise this in the future we will do everything to avoid unpleasant chances.

We remind you that the Shakhtar – Olimpik match will take place on March 15, at Arena Lviv. It will kick off at 17:00. Tickets for the game can be purchased online on the official site of FC Shakhtar.

FC Shakhtar
Press Office