At half-time, I asked them to keep playing

- Roberto, this is probably the biggest defeat in your coaching career. How can you explain it? (TK Futbol 1/2/3)

- No, this is not the worst defeat in my career. I have to decide how my team will play before the match starts. Of course, coaches then have situations when they can lose. But my team tried to show their football. In the first half, we played even pretty well. Then happened the situation when we conceded the first goal – Benzema was clearly offside. But I think that this is a rule that’s wrong, which is why they called it a goal. In the second half, Vinicius immediately scored the second one – after that the match got much more difficult for us.

- Was the situation with Mbappe similar to today’s situation involving Benzema? (Radio Marca)

- You didn't like Mbappe's goal, did you? I don't want to talk just about the first goal, because in fact Real Madrid played very well. And when Real Madrid play like Real Madrid, it’s tough for all teams. So I can't say anything. I am answering your question about the rule now. I think it’s wrong. We have already seen, as you said, the match between France and Spain ... If Mbappé and Benzema had been onside, why would then the defender of Spain and Kryvtsov play exactly like that, causing that goal and the own goal? That rule is fully wrong.

- What caused the absence of Taras Stepanenko in the starting lineup? (Shakhtar Life)

- We decided that Maycon and Alan would play. When they began launching attacks, Maycon operated lower, Alan did higher. That's exactly why I made that decision.

- What did you say to the guys in the dressing room at half-time? (Espresso TV)

- I said that we had played well in the first half, that we needed to continue and not give up. I do believe that we played well in the first half, but lost too many goals, especially the midfielders - Tete, Solomon, Alan. We were losing too many balls in those zones, and at such moments Real could well counterattack. I asked them to keep playing. Then, when Vinicius scored two goals, I noticed that several players just lost heart. This is one thing that I didn't like at all. In the end, the result turned out like that. One thing is to lose 0-2, quite another is 0-5. Especially since the team is in the process of construction, I don't want the results to be so hard.

- Even before the first goal, you reacted very emotionally to the team's play and were dissatisfied with something. What went wrong? How sharp critical has become the issue of communication with the team, the language gap? (Kyivskyi Futbol)

- I'm always nervous. On the day when I’m no longer nervous, I’ll have to go home. In fact, there was no genuine reason – I just noticed that we were losing too many balls, making the mistakes that we usually don’t. And especially the players who usually do not make such mistakes. Maybe this is the reason.

- How much did Matviienko's absence affect the result? Had he been available, where would you have deployed him – at centre-back or at left-back? (Profutbol Digital)

- Had Matviienko felt well, he would have played. End of story. I think it's wrong to say what role he’d have had. For us, Matviienko is a key player. Those who played at his position, they played well too. But for us that makes a big difference – with or without Matviienko.

- Do you have the feeling that you got in trouble with Real Madrid after their defeat at Sheriff? And, despite the bad result, which players would you single out? (2+2)

- Well done, a very smart question. I think many of our players performed well. You, reporters, may be paying more attention to the final result, while I, as a coach, should pay attention to everything. I cannot separate what I saw in the first half from what I saw in the second one. I will say one thing: in my last season as Shakhtar coach, we will play in the Champions League in a completely different way. And that season, which will be my last, I’m sure we will play in the Champions League more as leaders.

- You are saying that the team played well in the first half, but you had just colossal issues with build-up play. Please correct me if this is not the case. How were you supposed to solve this issue with substitutions? (TaToTake)