We need to prepare well for Roma
Friday, December 15, 2017
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Shakhtar CEO Sergei Palkin summed up the year results and answered questions from reporters
- If we advanced from the group involving Napoli, which is one of the Italian league leaders, then we should play and beat Roma. Today I estimate the chances as fifty-fifty. However, there are no unimportant things in football: we need to take into account all the details in order to make it further. The Romans are well-staffed, they have excellent players: Nainggolan, Dzeko, the goalkeeper Alisson... A strong team, but I think that of all the options this one is more or less acceptable. The main thing is to prepare really well.
- Is there a list of names or roles you would like to strengthen this winter?
- We’ve strengthened the one we wanted to. You saw that the reaction was immediate. In the rest of things, everything will depend on the situation.
- Is it possible to extend the contract with Bernard?
- There is a lot of talk about his future: whether he will stay, or whether someone will buy him. The discussion is well underway. Let's see what happens in the transfer market.
- Is there any interest from Turkish clubs?
- Of course, it’s also present.
- Fred played excellently this season ...
- They are interested in many football players - let's not mention their names one by one. When something specific happens, then we will see and discuss our further strategy for this specific position.
- At what stage is Darijo Srna’s situation?
- We are expecting a reply from the Ukrainian Anti-Doping Committee about the suspension term. They took samples A and B, now they are analysing everything and should make a verdict. If the decision is fine with WADA, it will be final then. If, say, WADA considers it to be wrong, they will go to court, where it will be necessary to prove whether it’s right or not.
- Returning to the scandalous encounter with Zorya: a stormy discussion was triggered by your phrase about an uppercut. After a while, do you regret what you said?
- You see, by and large I'm not an emotional person. My emotions show up when I see injustice. And it was explicit: the ref just nicked our three points. All experts who favour Shakhtar and who don’t, said that before the 80th minute we had to win the match! The referee just broke it and took away the three points. That's all. I am not going to comment on it any further, because there will be emotions again.
- Are you going to challenge the actions of the referee?
- In what way? If he whistled, there’s nothing to dispute.
- Experts said that only Fred’s suspension is questioned.
- It entailed everything else. What was the problem of this referee? He lost the threads of controlling the game. Before that, I watched the first half of Manchester United vs Manchester City. And had the ref there showed cards like this Boiko, the hosts and visitors would have had just half-teams. They also had fouls, handballs in the penalty area and so on! But the referee understands how to manage the game. Just stop the match, approach the coach or players, talk to them and reduce the heat of emotions ... He could easily control the game, and this situation would have never occurred. All that's happened was just because of him, you know?
- Can the video replays mentioned by the FFU president, resolve the situation around refereeing?
- They will help to make a certain step. At least we will understand whether there was a spot kick situation or not, because there’s a lot of talk around them. That is, critical things, of course, will be solved. The referee can’t always use video replays - the game will last 180 minutes instead of 90. However, this will be of great help. Conversely, our referees need to learn a whole lot of things.
- Shakhtar certainly attracts interest of the organizers of the off-season competitions. Where do you plan to hold your training camp?
- At this stage - in the UAE. Then we will see: Turkey, the Emirates ...
- Have your decided on the opponents yet?
- In the near future, the information should appear at the official website. At the moment, the final talks on sparring partners are being held.
- A lot of Shakhtar players are away on loan. Did Paulo Fonseca voice his desire to bring someone back?
- Again, it all depends on the transfer market reaction regarding our players. I think we will return one or two the most.
- The press reported on the interest expressed in Denys Boiko ...
- It’s the first time I've heard it.
- Is there a list of names or roles you would like to strengthen this winter?
- We’ve strengthened the one we wanted to. You saw that the reaction was immediate. In the rest of things, everything will depend on the situation.
- Is it possible to extend the contract with Bernard?
- There is a lot of talk about his future: whether he will stay, or whether someone will buy him. The discussion is well underway. Let's see what happens in the transfer market.
- Is there any interest from Turkish clubs?
- Of course, it’s also present.
- Fred played excellently this season ...
- They are interested in many football players - let's not mention their names one by one. When something specific happens, then we will see and discuss our further strategy for this specific position.
- At what stage is Darijo Srna’s situation?
- We are expecting a reply from the Ukrainian Anti-Doping Committee about the suspension term. They took samples A and B, now they are analysing everything and should make a verdict. If the decision is fine with WADA, it will be final then. If, say, WADA considers it to be wrong, they will go to court, where it will be necessary to prove whether it’s right or not.
- Returning to the scandalous encounter with Zorya: a stormy discussion was triggered by your phrase about an uppercut. After a while, do you regret what you said?
- You see, by and large I'm not an emotional person. My emotions show up when I see injustice. And it was explicit: the ref just nicked our three points. All experts who favour Shakhtar and who don’t, said that before the 80th minute we had to win the match! The referee just broke it and took away the three points. That's all. I am not going to comment on it any further, because there will be emotions again.
- Are you going to challenge the actions of the referee?
- In what way? If he whistled, there’s nothing to dispute.
- Experts said that only Fred’s suspension is questioned.
- It entailed everything else. What was the problem of this referee? He lost the threads of controlling the game. Before that, I watched the first half of Manchester United vs Manchester City. And had the ref there showed cards like this Boiko, the hosts and visitors would have had just half-teams. They also had fouls, handballs in the penalty area and so on! But the referee understands how to manage the game. Just stop the match, approach the coach or players, talk to them and reduce the heat of emotions ... He could easily control the game, and this situation would have never occurred. All that's happened was just because of him, you know?
- Can the video replays mentioned by the FFU president, resolve the situation around refereeing?
- They will help to make a certain step. At least we will understand whether there was a spot kick situation or not, because there’s a lot of talk around them. That is, critical things, of course, will be solved. The referee can’t always use video replays - the game will last 180 minutes instead of 90. However, this will be of great help. Conversely, our referees need to learn a whole lot of things.
- Shakhtar certainly attracts interest of the organizers of the off-season competitions. Where do you plan to hold your training camp?
- At this stage - in the UAE. Then we will see: Turkey, the Emirates ...
- Have your decided on the opponents yet?
- In the near future, the information should appear at the official website. At the moment, the final talks on sparring partners are being held.
- A lot of Shakhtar players are away on loan. Did Paulo Fonseca voice his desire to bring someone back?
- Again, it all depends on the transfer market reaction regarding our players. I think we will return one or two the most.
- The press reported on the interest expressed in Denys Boiko ...
- It’s the first time I've heard it.