The group is really and really tough
Thursday, October 1, 2020
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Shakhtar manager Luis Castro spoke on Shakhtar TV about Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Borussia Monchengladbach in the Champions League
- What are your emotions from this tough lot?
- This is the Champions League, it's always tough. Three great teams from Europe’s top 5 sides. Germany, Spain, Italy - three big leagues. We know what difficulties await us, and we must reach our top level to advance from the group.
- Can we call this group tougher than last season’s one?
- Let's say yes. This is a really tough group with maximum requirements.
- Real haven’t sign anyone up this summer, while Inter, on the contrary, strengthened their squad and became one of the contenders for gold medals in Italy. Which of these teams is currently more stellar, according to you?
- We are facing Real Madrid who use a 4-4-2 diamond formation and Inter with that of 5-3-2. We will analyze Borussia’s play – they are a very competent team. I think that the group is really and really tough, but we will try to meet its every requirement and perform well in the Champions League.
- At the moment, while passions still run high, it’s difficult to assess the composition of all eight groups. And yet, at first glance, this is not a ‘group of death’?
- We are all aware that we are in a really tough group, and we do not hide it. But last year, we also experienced quite difficult moments and out of 11 games in European competitions we lost just on three occasions – in the Europa League semifinal against Inter, the first UCL group stage game against Manchester City and the last one against Atalanta. This really proves how well prepared we were for our European journey. And now coming up with something else and saying that we will have an easy and simple group – no way, it will be a lie. Without a doubt, the group is really, really tough. But we will try to prepare in the best possible way. I really believe in my players, I trust them. I believe in our club, our way, our training process and our idea of the game. This is normal: none of the teams in this situation will feel comfortable, with any and all matches being extremely difficult. But we look at our daily work very carefully and with delight from participating in this competition.