Shakhtar has a future
Thursday, May 6, 2021
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At the press conference after the match vs Minaj, Shakhtar head coach Luis Castro reflected on the kickoff delay, the young players and working with the team for two years
- Mister Castro, what about your contract? There are rumours on the Internet that Shakhtar have already reached an agreement with Roberto De Zerbi.
- I am not going to comment on this. I’m primarily interested in the fact that if I leave this club, Shakhtar has a future. The foundation has been built at least. If we look at everything we’ve done ... Today, for example, Sudakov, Marcos Antonio, Tete and Viunnyk played. The average age of the guys is 19.8. In addition to winning, Shakhtar follow their own project. Without winning, we wouldn’t have made it to the Round of 16 in the Europa League, plus making it past Inter in the Champions League. Only through winning and playing well, we managed to defeat Real Madrid. Everything they say around me interests me the least. I’m happy with what I’ve done at Shakhtar. Last season, we became champions with a record 23-point lead over Dynamo, had an excellent Champions League campaign leaving Dinamo Zagreb behind, but giving way to Atalanta and Manchester City. We reached the Europa League Round of 16 and secured the Champions League berth being the runners-up. As I said, it was a great Champions League campaign, against Real Madrid and Inter ... With lots of young guys involved: the change of generations in the team is not that easy. Many cases of COVID-19, many infected players, many injuries. Nevertheless, even like that, we’ve survived. I am satisfied with my work and happy with the players I had during those two seasons. I'm happy with the things the guys did. Despite the fact that in football we don’t always achieve our goals, globally speaking, the average of what we have done in these two seasons is good. Not forgetting the young Shakhtar players project – it’s fulfilled. Shakhtar has a future. I hope that everyone will be really happy at Shakhtar and able to continue working on the same project that our Mr president praised. And it will be very successful.
- How did the match kickoff delay affect the team?
- It always affects things because they lose some focus. This was evident, especially in the first half. We needed to correct some situations at half-time, and we succeeded. The team got focussed again and tuned in. It's very strange to do two warm-ups and wait for the game to start. But, fortunately, we achieved our major goal of winning, to be the runners-up, and I’m happy thanks to this fact.
- Today, the league bottom side were the opponents. Why didn’t the young Vitao, Mudryk, Fernando, Sudakov play from the off, with no regulars Dentinho and Khocholava appearing instead?
- The young footballers who appeared in the starting lineup are Trubin, Dodo, Korniienko, Tete and Solomon. In the team with five young players, that is, almost 50 percent, we are happy with what we’ve achieved. And now, when you think that five young players are not enough, it makes me happy. Because it’s still a recognition of the work that has been carried out in recent years. We finished the match with Trubin, Dodo, Korniienko, Sudakov, Marcos Antonio, Tete, Fernando and Viunnyk on the pitch. It’s been a fantastic work of young players and older guys. We didn’t start like that because we thought it would be the best solution for the starting lineup. Since we fought with Zorya for the second position, it’s now crucial that we’ve claimed that spot.