We’ll try to meet the fans’ expectations

- Taras, you are already a legend of the club, ranking among the top six footballers in its history for the number of appearances made. Are you planning to become one of the top five players during these two years?

- Of course, I have never counted my apps, but I’m really pleased that during my time at the club, I have made quite a few of them. I will do my best to benefit Shakhtar in the future as well! If I get among the top five players, it will be a huge achievement for me.

- You joined Shakhtar in 2010 and became one of the best defensive midfielders in the history of the club. Can you say that you succeeded and achieved every goal?

- I want to express my gratitude. I have been at Shakhtar since 2010 – it will be 12 years in the summer. And today is a very important moment for me. I would like to thank the club president Rinat Akhmetov for believing in me back in 2010, for showing confidence which I try to justify at every training session, in every match, every day. Many thanks to FC Shakhtar for raising me not only as a footballer, but also as a person, as well as to the club management, Sergei Palkin, Darijo Srna, the head coach Roberto De Zerbi. I know that they supported me in extending the contract and said their weighty word for me to stay at the club. Many thanks to the fans who always support the team in victories and defeats and that they support me. It means a lot to us. And, of course, many thanks to my big family – my wife, children, my mother, the relatives and friends. They helped me take the only right decision – to stay at the club because it’s really important to me. To stay at Shakhtar for such a long time, to match the level and ambitions of the club is a great achievement for me.

- The fans know you as a book lover, a footballer who likes reading. Will the next two years be the new chapter in your autobiography? And are you already writing it?

- No, I don't write an autobiography, but I try to develop because I can't stand still. I read the books I find, the books I like. At my home I have about the same library as they have at the club. Hopefully, I will be writing history together with the club as long as I’m strong enough.

- You’ve scored 25 goals. Can you remember the most spectacular one?

- That’s my very first one. It was my debut in the Champions League - I remember worried I was, I remember that match, and I scored in it. That’s the most memorable and most emotional goal. Thirty? I think everything is possible - I will try to do it. It’s not so big a figure to reach.

- What are your targets for the next two years and what would you like to say to Shakhtar fans?