A very important league title

- It's a very important title. For the Academy and the club as a whole since in this age category we haven’t been champions for a long while. We managed to achieve success thanks to the efforts of all staff at the Academy and, above all, of the players.

- Let’s recall the beginning of the season. How different is the current team, has anything changed over this year?

- It has. We have become champions. We started it with some basic things: we got to know each other, gathered a group. I’ve been working at the Shakhtar Academy for a long while, and this was a challenge for me and the coaching staff that formed before the start of the season. I think they’ve been successful in terms of our work because we gained some experience and managed to achieve our goal.

- What did you do before taking charge of Shakhtar U19?

- I’ve been training kids since 2006. I worked with younger ages, starting from 8-year-old children, was a technical coach. Over time, I moved to the professional Academy where I also worked with children of different ages. Then worked as Fernando Valente's assistant in the U21 team and, by the way, learned many things from him. Since last season, I’ve been the head coach of Shakhtar U19.

- How did the guys and the squad change during the season?

- We started with one squad, but after the first half of the year six players moved to the reserve team. They progressed and earned a place in the U21 team. And some others - Danyil Udod and Andrii Buleza - have even managed to secure places in the senior team, they proved themselves just as well at the youth level.

- You had a lot of players born in 2004 who had not even finished school yet. Dit this kind of situation happen to every league team, or were Shakhtar significantly younger than their rivals?

- If we talk about the league level this year, I think our team were the youngest. We fielded footballers born in 2004 who can still play in the DUFL league for the U17 team. The guys performed well, they managed to switch to more adult football in a short period of time and become regulars in their roles.

- Your team also featured the guys born in 2005 ...

- Yes, that’s Oleksandr Yuschenko who turned 16 just in May. He is a talented footballer, that's why he got a chance to prove himself in the U19 Championship. In the future, this will give him more confidence.

- You started the season with suffering a defeat at the hands of Kolos. Do you remember that meeting?

- We understood that our task was to prepare the guys for the reserve team and, if possible, for the first team of Shakhtar. At the same time, we needed to match the club's style of play. It's normal when young guys make mistakes in the first competitive match. We had to help them, instil confidence in them, I think our coaching staff coped with that. The footballers felt confident, they felt our trust because at the first stage our line-up changed often, there was rotation and everyone had the opportunity to prove themselves on the field from the opening minutes.

- What matches were game-changing?

- All of them were crucial. There was no single easy game, all of them were tense. In terms of quality, I liked the away game against Dnipro-1 and, of course, the clashes with Dynamo when we managed to claim two wins. Dynamo had more chances in the away match, but in terms of playing ideas and principles we looked better. At home, we also defeated them 1-0 and, I think, our play was more exciting.

- How did you set the team up for the closing round match against Inhulets as Shakhtar's final standing in the table depended on its outcome?

- There was a very short break between the penultimate and last rounds. We returned from the away match against Minaj, had literally one training session, and already had to take on Inhulets. The guys had the objective of restoring themselves functionally, and from a psychological point of view, it was enough for them to appear in training, to communicate and play football. The team approached the final meeting with good vibes after a long winning streak.

- Who congratulated you after winning the title?