It’s impossible to play better on this pitch
Saturday, March 6, 2021
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Shakhtar head coach Luis Castro answered questions after defeating Olimpik
- What changes occurred in the team after the previous match? What have you changed?
- We always have a certain plan. In the cup tie we had to fully reshuffle the team, and today it would’ve been impossible to play against Olimpik if we had had the same 11 players in the starting lineup on Wednesday. We replaced absolutely everyone - just Marcos Antonio remained. Alan Patrick was suspended. Two lineups show different dynamics - completely different strategies for each game. Talking about the field condition, it doesn’t allow us to showcase Shakhtar football. Despite the fact that we don’t have the kind of season we would like to have, despite the fact that this season is really inconsistent for us, we continue to be the team who played in the Europa League semis. And we continue to be the team who enjoyed a 23-point lead over the second spot last season, having broken all records. We also deservedly passed the Champions League group stage this season. We are currently experiencing not the best moment, we try to charge forward, but we realize that it’s impossible to play any better on this kind of pitch both for us and for any other team who may play here. That’s just unrealistic! How do they allow people to play on this kind of field? But life is like that. We come for every game to win. So it happened today. Sometimes we also need a bit of luck - maybe this is what’s happened today and what hasn’t happened in other matches.
- What information do you have regarding Stepanenko?
- This question will be answered by the medical department. At the moment, the player doesn’t work with me. And the medical department hasn’t announced any exact date yet for him to return to me.