Stal vs Shakhtar: player comments
Sunday, April 10, 2016
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Players of the Donetsk team reflect on the game vs Stal
Eduardo, Shakhtar forward:
- We will fight for the league gold until the end. If I am not mistaken, this is the second game in which we conceded a goal in the closing minutes. This happens in football. Such was the case against Vorskla, and today against Stal. Clearly, this is painful, but against all odds, we will fight to the bitter end. Our team found it tough after long air trips and the match against Braga, we're just tired. Today we had a difficult first half, in the second one we felt better and stronger. Now we are going to tune in for the crucial return leg against Braga. We need to play it to the highest standards.
Taras Stepanenko, Shakhtar midfielder:
- Before the match, we talked about the fact that we are no inferior to Stal players anthropometry wise. So the game plan was to deliver 80 percent of the set pieces into the box. I do not know why we did not do that in the first half. So we conceded a goal: after playing the ball we ran upfield to win it back... While we should have listened to and done what the coach was saying! Owing to that, we have reached the Europa League quarter-finals. We must play team football, help each other and achieve results. We concede the same goals after flank deliveries and in the course of the game! So happened both at the end of the match against Braga and today. Our game is built through the flanks: the defenders often connect to the attacks and do not always have time to drop back. We try to play attacking football, but it does not always work well. We must pay attention to that. We had a chance to beat Stal and do everything possible to fight for the league title with Dynamo. Now it will be difficult.
- We will fight for the league gold until the end. If I am not mistaken, this is the second game in which we conceded a goal in the closing minutes. This happens in football. Such was the case against Vorskla, and today against Stal. Clearly, this is painful, but against all odds, we will fight to the bitter end. Our team found it tough after long air trips and the match against Braga, we're just tired. Today we had a difficult first half, in the second one we felt better and stronger. Now we are going to tune in for the crucial return leg against Braga. We need to play it to the highest standards.
Taras Stepanenko, Shakhtar midfielder:
- Before the match, we talked about the fact that we are no inferior to Stal players anthropometry wise. So the game plan was to deliver 80 percent of the set pieces into the box. I do not know why we did not do that in the first half. So we conceded a goal: after playing the ball we ran upfield to win it back... While we should have listened to and done what the coach was saying! Owing to that, we have reached the Europa League quarter-finals. We must play team football, help each other and achieve results. We concede the same goals after flank deliveries and in the course of the game! So happened both at the end of the match against Braga and today. Our game is built through the flanks: the defenders often connect to the attacks and do not always have time to drop back. We try to play attacking football, but it does not always work well. We must pay attention to that. We had a chance to beat Stal and do everything possible to fight for the league title with Dynamo. Now it will be difficult.