We set sights on the Round of 16
Tuesday, December 8, 2020
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Shakhtar head coach Luis Castro answered reporters' questions before the game vs Inter
- Does the double defeat at Gladbach put pressure on you? How do you approach tomorrow's match? What will you do to advance from the group stage in the top spot? What risks do you face in the upcoming game?
- I prefer to think more about the victories we had against Real Madrid than about the defeats against Borussia. And none of those results will have any effect on tomorrow's game. We are fully focussed on the match against Inter. We are not interested in anything that happened to us before this day. We're in the group with all teams aiming for the Champions League round of 16, and we're looking in the same direction. How will we make it past Inter? In exactly the same way Inter want to make it past us - with full dedication to play and ambition, attentiveness and a great desire to make it to the Champions League round of 16.
- This season, Shakhtar have been experiencing problems against the teams who defend by parking the bus. Vorskla, Rukh, Gladbach, Inter - in those games your team had very few chances, it was difficult for you to carve through the tight defence. Is this a problem? How are you going to solve it tomorrow?
- We are prepared for the game. We understand that we’re facing the match against the tough opponents who want exactly what we do. First of all, we must be very careful defensively, as well as have our own amount of attacking work, reach the opponents’ penalty area as many times as possible, which is logical. I see that my players feel confident both psychologically and otherwise. You will see how we are going to play in tomorrow's match because today we still must clarify some details.
- Have you figured out what to do with Inter’s total pressure?
- Yes, we’ve already fully worked out everything related to tomorrow's game. As I’ve said just now, there are just a few details left for us to clarify. Everything else is ready.
- We saw that Shakhtar experienced big defensive problems in Kyiv. Perhaps, luck helped you keep the score of 0-0. Have you already figured out how to stop Lukaku and Martinez?
- Problems while playing against Lukaku and Martinez? Absolutely every team have faced such problems against this strong Inter. It's hard to find a club that doesn't experience this kind of issues. I would call it not even a problem, but a huge amount of work that our defence will have to do. To be honest, I’m focused on our offensive work just as much as on our defensive work. The group features Monchengladbach, Real Madrid and Inter … I think that after the draw all the reporters covering the Champions League analyzed it and said that we are a team who wouldn’t make it to the Champions League round of 16. But the last game is ahead, and we are fighting to make it further. This is all thanks to the fantastic dedication and work of my players throughout the group stage. The attacking play of Lukaku and Martinez interests me in the same way as our attacking actions. We built our play not counting solely on defending. I can say one thing for sure: tomorrow's match is different from the Europa League semifinal and from the previous meeting in Kyiv. We know very well that our opponents are a very aggressive and intense Inter. He will try to reach our goal in the same way as we will do, so there’s an intense and difficult game ahead, but we are ready for it. And the 0-0 outcome in Kyiv showed that we are not a weak team.