Sending-off wasn’t the case
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
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Shakhtar defender Dodo shared his thoughts about the match vs Atalanta
- The first half wasn’t bad: there were opportunities to score, we played well defensively. In the second half, too, everything was fine, but we weren’t focussed enough while we conceded the first goal. We continued charging forward to the end, however, unfortunately, we failed to convert a single chance we had created.
- Your sending-off was one of the key moments of the match. Do you agree with the ref’s decision?
- I completely agree with my first yellow card and I even apologised to the whole team for that. But in terms of sending me off, I’m sure it wasn’t the case. I was alone there, side by side with two Atalanta players, they pressed me with their bodies, and I touched the shoulder of one of them - that’s it. I think this can’t earn any card at all, let alone the red one. But those are the decisions taken, and we must respect them.
- How would you comment on the situation when Muriel brought you down early in the second half? That might well be his second yellow one ...
- Exactly. I already made it past him and was running towards the goal, the opponent knocked me down through a sliding tackle, but the referee didn’t award even a yellow card. In my opinion, today is not the ref’s best day - he made some decisions that would’ve been more correct otherwise.
- The Europa League. How much does this tournament match Shakhtar's ambitions?
- At the end of the week, we’ve got the last league game this year, and we are focussed on it at the moment. And next year, we will get focussed on the Europa League. It’s clear that this is a different competition, not the Champions League, but we will always try to seek the best for our team.
- Your sending-off was one of the key moments of the match. Do you agree with the ref’s decision?
- I completely agree with my first yellow card and I even apologised to the whole team for that. But in terms of sending me off, I’m sure it wasn’t the case. I was alone there, side by side with two Atalanta players, they pressed me with their bodies, and I touched the shoulder of one of them - that’s it. I think this can’t earn any card at all, let alone the red one. But those are the decisions taken, and we must respect them.
- How would you comment on the situation when Muriel brought you down early in the second half? That might well be his second yellow one ...
- Exactly. I already made it past him and was running towards the goal, the opponent knocked me down through a sliding tackle, but the referee didn’t award even a yellow card. In my opinion, today is not the ref’s best day - he made some decisions that would’ve been more correct otherwise.
- The Europa League. How much does this tournament match Shakhtar's ambitions?
- At the end of the week, we’ve got the last league game this year, and we are focussed on it at the moment. And next year, we will get focussed on the Europa League. It’s clear that this is a different competition, not the Champions League, but we will always try to seek the best for our team.