Victories help us win
Monday, December 6, 2021
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At a press conference before the match vs Sheriff, Shakhtar head coach Roberto De Zerbi spoke about the squad, motivation and the team’s goals
- The match is of no competitive value, plus you are facing a tough game against Oleksandriia which is not going to be a walk in the park. Do you plan, despite the need for revenge, to field a semi-experimental squad against Sheriff? (Footboom.com)
- Fifty-fifty. There are several players who will appear neither tomorrow nor on Saturday. There’ll be a very good starting lineup against Sheriff. That’s an important match, just in case. We have so many young footballers who must show their progress through such games! I suppose you won’t worry, tomorrow our starting XI will be very strong.
- Your debut Champions League campaign ends up tomorrow. What conclusions did you make for yourself based on the in this competition and what mark from 1 to 10 would you give yourself based on its results? (Sport-Arena)
- When we talk about European competitions, we mustn’t forget that we started playing in Belgium. First we had matches against Genk, then against Monaco. We must also count these four games. In the Champions League group stage, we didn't get the result we wanted. But I warned you right away, even before the start, that we wouldn’t be able to play as leaders or as I would like to. I believe that we can correct the mistakes of this season in the next one. Our footballers will also have more knowledge, so all together we will be able to play in a completely different way next season. And I think we can also take something from transfers to improve this team and play differently in the Champions League next year. And there will be no marks because when I was small I knew very, very little mathematics at school. I can’t help you in this sense.
- The expectation of the fans for this Champions League campaign was at least qualifying for the Europa League. However, Shakhtar have just one goal scored – and that's all you can boast of at the moment. What were your expectations? And why do you have what you have? (Espreso.TV)
- The expectations, of course, were completely different. But at the end of the day, I believe that what we did is maybe exactly what we deserved. I just want to say that we have won the Super Cup, now we are trying to win the league title and the Ukrainian Cup. I’m sure that next season we will be able to play in a completely different way. We can help that all together this season.
- Could you highlight some positive things given that in league you are kiterally neck and neck with Dynamo? Will you have more focus on the Premier League this coming spring? (FootballHub)
- Of course, no one wanted to leave the European competitions, but it so happened that we finished in the top spot in the group, so we don’t continue our journey in Europe. On the positive side, we will have more time to work intensively all together, especially considering that the last time we did the same work all together was in late July. After that we started playing three times a week – with no opportunity to work intensively together. There will be such an opportunity in Antalya, we will be training hard. We must prepare in the right way because after the break, our goal is to win the Ukrainian league title and the Ukrainian Cup.
- Recently we received information that Andrea Maldera may join your coaching staff. How realistic is that? (FootballHub)
- Andrea Maldera is my friend, I really appreciate how he works, but at the moment there’s no such opportunity to work with the coaching staff. I am not saying that this won’t be possible in the future, but at the moment it’s absolutely impossible.
- In connection with the upcoming match against Oleksandriia, how important is the victory against Sheriff for you personally? And how important is it for the team, according to you? (Vesti)
- Tomorrow night we will play at 22:00. It might be very cold. Regardless of that, we must always know how important is the shirt we are wearing and we must respect the club and its fans. The footballers who will play should know this. Plus I’ve got 25 people. They don't know yet what kind of starting line-up will be there. But every footballer should respect the shirt, the club and the fans. And we must display good football. I always say that victories help us win. Therefore, maybe if we win tomorrow night, it will help us defeat Oleksandriia as well.
- We don’t doubt your great preparation for Sheriff. If we project it on the Ukrainian league, how would you rate their strength? Are they a team in the middle? A team who would challenge European cups? Or even the championship? (112ua.tv)
- It's a difficult question. I don't know it to be honest. I analyzed them before playing the first match, and I can say that if they scored six points, they deserved it. I also cannot compare the leagues in Ukraine and Moldova. At the end of the day, in the first leg on Sheriff's field, we had so many chances to score a goal ... In several episodes, Sheriff might have been lucky. In football, statistics are not the result – it’s important that you score two goals, and the opponents don’t score any, as was the case with us. Tomorrow is an important match, that’s what we should think about.
- Tomorrow's match has a financial background: a victory will bring the club 2.8 million euros, a draw will bring about a million. How important is this aspect for you? Or are you only considering the sporting side? (Hazeta Po-Ukrayinsky)
- I think in life you need not only to take, but particularly to give. We are lucky that we have the club that gives us a lot. Tomorrow the economic side is also important, because we are responsible to always play with respect for our shirt, our club. If it brings some kind of bonus from UEFA, of course that’s a plus for the club. All our footballers are professionals, they wear Shakhtar jerseys and always play to the maximum. That’s an important match for us, and we will give our one hundred percent, our maximum.
- You are probably tired now, but you will definitely like this question because it’s about tactics, and you love that. In the previous match against Inter, Shakhtar had more control of the ball than the opponents, but this did not translate into danger near their goal and into shots. What can be done about it? Does it bother you? And you ended the match without a striker: can we ever see this kind of game again? (Tribuna.com)
- Of course, honestly, I didn't like how we played in Milan. I believe that we could play more with character, bolder. I'm not very happy with how we performed there. We have created several scoring chances. This is no excuse, but we mustn’t forget that we didn’t have Traore and Alan Patrick who are key players for us. This is not an excuse, but the truth. We have Fernando who can score a goal and plays well, but it's sad that when we had chances to score a goal, it didn't work out. This is exactly what happened to us in the Champions League.
- Fifty-fifty. There are several players who will appear neither tomorrow nor on Saturday. There’ll be a very good starting lineup against Sheriff. That’s an important match, just in case. We have so many young footballers who must show their progress through such games! I suppose you won’t worry, tomorrow our starting XI will be very strong.
- Your debut Champions League campaign ends up tomorrow. What conclusions did you make for yourself based on the in this competition and what mark from 1 to 10 would you give yourself based on its results? (Sport-Arena)
- When we talk about European competitions, we mustn’t forget that we started playing in Belgium. First we had matches against Genk, then against Monaco. We must also count these four games. In the Champions League group stage, we didn't get the result we wanted. But I warned you right away, even before the start, that we wouldn’t be able to play as leaders or as I would like to. I believe that we can correct the mistakes of this season in the next one. Our footballers will also have more knowledge, so all together we will be able to play in a completely different way next season. And I think we can also take something from transfers to improve this team and play differently in the Champions League next year. And there will be no marks because when I was small I knew very, very little mathematics at school. I can’t help you in this sense.
- The expectation of the fans for this Champions League campaign was at least qualifying for the Europa League. However, Shakhtar have just one goal scored – and that's all you can boast of at the moment. What were your expectations? And why do you have what you have? (Espreso.TV)
- The expectations, of course, were completely different. But at the end of the day, I believe that what we did is maybe exactly what we deserved. I just want to say that we have won the Super Cup, now we are trying to win the league title and the Ukrainian Cup. I’m sure that next season we will be able to play in a completely different way. We can help that all together this season.
- Could you highlight some positive things given that in league you are kiterally neck and neck with Dynamo? Will you have more focus on the Premier League this coming spring? (FootballHub)
- Of course, no one wanted to leave the European competitions, but it so happened that we finished in the top spot in the group, so we don’t continue our journey in Europe. On the positive side, we will have more time to work intensively all together, especially considering that the last time we did the same work all together was in late July. After that we started playing three times a week – with no opportunity to work intensively together. There will be such an opportunity in Antalya, we will be training hard. We must prepare in the right way because after the break, our goal is to win the Ukrainian league title and the Ukrainian Cup.
- Recently we received information that Andrea Maldera may join your coaching staff. How realistic is that? (FootballHub)
- Andrea Maldera is my friend, I really appreciate how he works, but at the moment there’s no such opportunity to work with the coaching staff. I am not saying that this won’t be possible in the future, but at the moment it’s absolutely impossible.
- In connection with the upcoming match against Oleksandriia, how important is the victory against Sheriff for you personally? And how important is it for the team, according to you? (Vesti)
- Tomorrow night we will play at 22:00. It might be very cold. Regardless of that, we must always know how important is the shirt we are wearing and we must respect the club and its fans. The footballers who will play should know this. Plus I’ve got 25 people. They don't know yet what kind of starting line-up will be there. But every footballer should respect the shirt, the club and the fans. And we must display good football. I always say that victories help us win. Therefore, maybe if we win tomorrow night, it will help us defeat Oleksandriia as well.
- We don’t doubt your great preparation for Sheriff. If we project it on the Ukrainian league, how would you rate their strength? Are they a team in the middle? A team who would challenge European cups? Or even the championship? (112ua.tv)
- It's a difficult question. I don't know it to be honest. I analyzed them before playing the first match, and I can say that if they scored six points, they deserved it. I also cannot compare the leagues in Ukraine and Moldova. At the end of the day, in the first leg on Sheriff's field, we had so many chances to score a goal ... In several episodes, Sheriff might have been lucky. In football, statistics are not the result – it’s important that you score two goals, and the opponents don’t score any, as was the case with us. Tomorrow is an important match, that’s what we should think about.
- Tomorrow's match has a financial background: a victory will bring the club 2.8 million euros, a draw will bring about a million. How important is this aspect for you? Or are you only considering the sporting side? (Hazeta Po-Ukrayinsky)
- I think in life you need not only to take, but particularly to give. We are lucky that we have the club that gives us a lot. Tomorrow the economic side is also important, because we are responsible to always play with respect for our shirt, our club. If it brings some kind of bonus from UEFA, of course that’s a plus for the club. All our footballers are professionals, they wear Shakhtar jerseys and always play to the maximum. That’s an important match for us, and we will give our one hundred percent, our maximum.
- You are probably tired now, but you will definitely like this question because it’s about tactics, and you love that. In the previous match against Inter, Shakhtar had more control of the ball than the opponents, but this did not translate into danger near their goal and into shots. What can be done about it? Does it bother you? And you ended the match without a striker: can we ever see this kind of game again? (Tribuna.com)
- Of course, honestly, I didn't like how we played in Milan. I believe that we could play more with character, bolder. I'm not very happy with how we performed there. We have created several scoring chances. This is no excuse, but we mustn’t forget that we didn’t have Traore and Alan Patrick who are key players for us. This is not an excuse, but the truth. We have Fernando who can score a goal and plays well, but it's sad that when we had chances to score a goal, it didn't work out. This is exactly what happened to us in the Champions League.
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