Vitor Pereira: Shakhtar can play even with their eyes closed

06-08-15 01:47:31

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At the post-match press conference, Fenerbahce manager shared his take on the game and answered questions from the media.

- As I said before, I believe in my team. We have the motivation, and we will definitely please our fans.

- What do you make of the fact that Fred has appeared for Shakhtar?
- I’ve got nothing to add to what I said a day earlier: I coach them, my job is to work with the players of my team! I am not in the position to make any statements and follow who was fielded by our opponents. That’s within the scope of duties of Fenerbahce lawyers.

- How would you comment on your being sent off from the coaches’ area?
- I know that I am a very emotional coach. I'm always in the game, passing it through myself. But I think I haven’t deserved the red card, as I did nothing. The sending-off decision was taken by the fourth official, who was closest to the scene. Unfortunately for me, I had to accept that refereeing decision.

- How would you generally assess the refereeing in this match?
- Let's talk about the match itself! If we get stuck over the referee decisions, we will never come to any conclusion. I do not believe that my sending-off was the key moment in this game for our team. To be honest, I did not see the second goal they scored against us. But I do not think that this goal has affected the team spirit.

- In the second half, the opening 15 minutes might have become decisive, but your team failed to convert their chances and eventually lost. How are you going to solve this problem?
- It should be understood that Shakhtar Donetsk are a very strong team: well-coordinated squad, the coach Mircea Lucescu has been working with the team for many years. I reckon that Shakhtar footballers can play even with their eyes closed. While Fenerbahce are a completely new team and we‘ve trained for just three weeks now. Nevertheless, we are slowly but surely moving on, working a lot. I feel that we will get stronger. Shakhtar have made use of all their scoring chances, while my players, by contrast, have failed to score. But still, we found this game to be an excellent material for reflection. Perhaps the second goal changed the balance in the game. Fenerbahce operated boldly, we produced a decent performance. The first half was satisfactory for us, except for the goal conceded. Today, we have gained a lot of experience. We will analyse it, correct the mistakes. I sincerely promise that in the nearest future Fenerbahce will be able to win the league title. However, unfortunately, we’ve been knocked out of the Champions League. My team will definitely meet the expectations of our fans, we will apologise for letting them down today. I am sure that if the meeting with Shakhtar has been held a couple of weeks later, we would have produced a very different result.