We need victories in Europe

- Shakhtar turns 85 years old. What do you make of the past five years? What made you happy and what upset you over the years?

- It’s difficult to assess just the recent five years. October 11 this year will mark 25 years of my service at Shakhtar. Therefore, I can tell you what we’ve experienced over those 25 years. And if we take the last five years ... Probably it’s the game against Real Madrid. After the first half, we saw the 0-3 score. There were many young players, our Academy boys. And it wasn’t just 0-3, it was about the quality of play. The performance-based score must be even bigger! And we beat them 2-0 at home. That is, in this year’s Champions League campaign we still played great against Real Madrid, we didn’t lose to Inter and advanced from the toughest group. It was great. We claimed four league titles in a row. But this year we lost it - that's bad. This year we are upset about the championship, but our club always has the most ambitious goals. We will move overcoming the most difficult obstacles and win new trophies.

- Last season, Shakhtar reached the Europa League semi-finals. Did you feel that we can repeat the success of 2009 and win the European trophy for the second time in the history of the club?

- Well, we played well! We reached the semis through some bright, spectacular, attacking play. I suppose that lots and lots of fans enjoyed our performance. That is, Shakhtar really showcased both beauty and confidence, and they knew how to win. But in order to win European trophies, there must be a set of factors and luck at the same time. We got very strong Inter and, unfortunately, we didn't succeed. In 2009, we had Dynamo Kyiv in the semi-finals. On April 30 we tied 1-1 away, and on May 7 we won 2-1. And on May 20 we secured an away victory over Werder Bremen. Those were wonderful, happy moments for all of us, for all our fans.

- What was missing in the last season’s semis? Some luck?

- No. We didn't have enough strength to beat Inter. Inter are really strong! Just check out what Inter have been doing in the domestic league. They are indeed a very powerful team who already celebrate winning the league title by a wide margin four rounds away from the end of their Serie A campaign. And the fact that we advanced from this group featuring Real Madrid, Inter and Borussia Monchengladbach, claimed the third spot ... It speaks volumes.

- The film title is Donetsk and Its Team. Nevertheless, Shakhtar have been playing away from their home, outside Donetsk for a long while. What have you personally been experiencing during this period? And how have your feelings changed over the years?

- The film is very good. And the title is really good. I’ve been experiencing ... great pain, great sadness. I’ve missed it all the time, am missing and will always miss my home city of Donetsk. I love this city very much - I’ve lived there for 47 years. Having the opportunity to live anywhere in the world, I resided in Donetsk. I’ve always said that our city is the most beautiful, for me it’s the favourite place, and the air there is the cleanest, just the best! And most importantly, the people there are wonderful. I love Donetsk and miss it. I hope that someday we will return there, that peace settles in Ukraine and we will play at the Donbass Arena. Let's say the first game will be Shakhtar vs Dynamo Kyiv. I guess it will be really interesting. And the second game will be a Champions League one. So that the Champions League theme song would sound there. It would be great to have Shakhtar playing against Liverpool, Manchester City or Barcelona, Real Madrid ... Just great! And it’s a pity that our fans did not see such victories as the 2-0 one over Real Madrid at the Donbass Arena. As for the Donetsk and Its Team documentary, I can remember that maybe some 15 years ago - in 2006, 2007 or 2008 - we had such films made. I remember being invited at the end of each league season - I came there being either the happiest or the most unhappy man. If I was the happiest, I would tell them how great we were, how we won the league title, the Cup or something else. And if we lost, I was the most unhappy man and told them that everything was bad, that my face expression could well fit any commemoration ceremony, but we wouldn’t give up, we would still fight and win in the end. I remember those wonderful moments. I gave many interviews at the Donbass Palace. So that's a good title for this film! We are from there, our team is from Donetsk, and we are proud of that. And we will do our best to win trophies, raise trophies and delight our fans.

- Shakhtar always play for the fans - they are the driving force of the team. But many fans reside in Donetsk, in the region, and have not attended the team's matches for many years. In 2020, restrictions got added to this fact due to COVID-19. Do you think the lack of fans is the main problem in the club’s recent history?

- I reckon that the absence of fans really affects football. Football is a game primarily for fans. I remember when you go to the stadium, as soon as someone shouts there - the heart rate surges to 180. If you play away, just five people shout out loud - and it seems to me that some 50 thousand people have gathered there. And that's it, you are already trembling. Or at our stadium: you feel how they cheer the team on as our fans have always supported us well. That’s completely different. I myself have not been to the stadium for seven years and my heart really hurts. I’ve just said that the fans do not go to the stadium, they don’t have this opportunity, and neither do I - I don’t miss a single match, but on TV which is a completely different thing. But at the same time, we all live hoping for the best, that everything will change and we will go to the stadium and delight our fans with some bright, beautiful, top-quality, spectacular and victorious play.

- You have been the club president for 25 years now. You joined it when Shakhtar was 60 years old, while now it turns 85. Could you imagine back then the development way to be covered, that so many generations of great footballers would grow up at Shakhtar, that Shakhtar would become a sports symbol of Ukraine in the world?

- Basically, we’ve always shared our goals with the fans. I remember when in 1996 I became the president of FC Shakhtar and promised that we would win the league title. Everyone was laughing. Nobody believed it. Everyone thought I was crazy. Maybe they were right, which is the most interesting thing. But ultimately, five years passed, and we became champions. It happened on the 11th of June 2002 - we won the championship. The first championship appeared in Donetsk. You probably don't remember those moments, but there were millions of fans. They went out on their own, at the call of their hearts, to meet up the team! Shakhtar beat Zakarpattia 1-0 in Uzhgorod, Belik scored a goal in the 50th minute. The team plane landed, and people came to the airport to meet them. I don't know, there were tens, hundreds of thousands of people. There were no concerts, no fireworks - nothing. If you remember, then we always celebrated it loudly, brightly, with performances. And then I remember this: tens, hundreds of thousands of people were walking ... We were sitting and celebrating it with friends, 10 people. And I thought: we booked a table in a restaurant and seemed to have taken care of ourselves, but the fans were not celebrating with us. And then we started thinking about celebrating it loudly and with the fans. We experience it with the fans! Every game, every victory - we were rejoicing with the fans. And we started to always celebrate it together with the fans. I think our fans remember that we’ve always celebrated any of our victories together, especially the championships - loudly and brightly.

- Yes, there have always been some really bright celebrations. When the anthem of Shakhtar was played, my heart just missed a beat. Does your heart also stop at those moments?

- Yes, I feel the same way. I’m excited in the same way at every game. The game is still unpredictable. We may win, we may lose. Emotions are always present - good or bad, but emotions are always there. We always want to win. I remember, it was May 11 or May 14, 2011, we celebrated Shakhtar's 75th foundation anniversary in Donetsk. There was a grand, huge celebration back then. The Donbass Arena was just packed! We had two major celebrations: on August 29, 2009 we opened the Donbass Arena, and in 2011 we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the club.

- How do you see Shakhtar’s next five years? And what kind of Shakhtar do you want to see on the 90th anniversary?

- On my 90th birthday anniversary?

- On Shakhtar’s 90th foundation anniversary!

- Oh, well, I thought about my 90th birthday! My first thought was that I liked the question. It's hard for me to say about five years. We’ve never measured or viewed it like that - a five-year plan or something like that. We’ve always set the most ambitious goals. We’ve always strived to have trophies in our hands. We must win the domestic league title, the Cup, and delight the fans with some bright, beautiful, meaningful game that every fan likes. That’s what they like the team for - for the quality of their play. And, of course, in Europe we must showcase the results to be proud of. To not be ashamed, but proud of. We will do our best for that, we will move on for five, ten, and more years. We will go just forward.

- What are Shakhtar's current ambitions? Could you single out one? What would you like?

- What would I like to win? Of course, I want to win the European trophy. That’s not easy. Without Donbass Arena, without our home stadium, it’s not easy to say that aloud. We still play away. In the league we must win, in the Cup we must win. That's clear. And to do our best for us to have a really strong team and move on and on and on in Europe. We need victories in Europe.

- Can you imagine Shakhtar playing someone in the Champions League final? Who would you like to beat?

- First of all, in the final I would like to face a team to be beaten by us. Why? Because when you go somewhere you think: I wanted to meet with Real Madrid, for instance, and beat them ... Barcelona, Manchester City, Liverpool, and Manchester United also deliver great performance these days. I would like to meet with the team to ensure some bright and spectacular play, but the cup should be ours - that’s important. That is, I would like to win. To reach that point, and then it diesn’t matter - there are no weak sides there!

- We hope that over the next five years Shakhtar will again hold the European trophy and all our dreams will come true.

- Look, what are we working for? We still want to win in Europe - we do our best for that. Just check out the current Europa League, the kind of competition present there. The same as in the Champions League. There are just mind-blowing teams there! Winning the Europa League title is not easy. But we still set the most ambitious goals, we will acquire such players, invite the best coaches, develop the Academy so that our players get really strong, so that they delight us. Our ambitions are like that - aiming at victories.

- We are interviewing you for the first time in the history of Shakhtar TV. On behalf of the fans, we would like to thank you for this opportunity. Fans can now watch Shakhtar's archived matches, interviews, various programmes with the participation of players, as well as daily news. And all that is just about Shakhtar.

- Yes I know. I watch it myself, and I watched you do many interviews.

- We are pleased that, despite your tight schedule, you follow our programmes and broadcasts.