My home club
Sunday, February 23, 2020
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Shakhtar midfielder Taras Stepanenko reflects on the victory over Desna and his milestone match with the Miners
- The main thing is victory. We had a hard game on Thursday, and we’ve undergone rotation today. The young guys tried hard, it didn’t always work out, but that’s natural. In the end, it was difficult, but finally VAR helped us - it was in our favour. Congratulations to everyone on the victory! I’m sure it will give us confidence and strength before the match against Benfica.
- How difficult was it to crack the opponent’s defence open?
- Desna are a strong team - we had problems with them in the away match as well. Back then, we also won 1-0, but I wouldn’t say that we played well. And this time, the same thing happened: they played defensively, launched counterattacks through the fast and technical players, making it hard for us. But when we fielded the guys who play between the lines, we started to rip open their defence and create scoring chances.
- Your 300th appearance for Shakhtar. What does this number mean to you?
- I’ve been at Shakhtar for 10 years now, and I am really delighted at the fact that I will soon join the top 20 players for the number of appearances with the Miners. This is a home club for me, I’m happy to be here and to always give my all. I’m glad to claim victories, win new trophies, and move ahead with the team!
- How difficult was it to crack the opponent’s defence open?
- Desna are a strong team - we had problems with them in the away match as well. Back then, we also won 1-0, but I wouldn’t say that we played well. And this time, the same thing happened: they played defensively, launched counterattacks through the fast and technical players, making it hard for us. But when we fielded the guys who play between the lines, we started to rip open their defence and create scoring chances.
- Your 300th appearance for Shakhtar. What does this number mean to you?
- I’ve been at Shakhtar for 10 years now, and I am really delighted at the fact that I will soon join the top 20 players for the number of appearances with the Miners. This is a home club for me, I’m happy to be here and to always give my all. I’m glad to claim victories, win new trophies, and move ahead with the team!