Play at our best and win
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
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Press conference of Shakhtar head coach Arda Turan ahead of the UEFA Europa League away game against Ilves
– You won the first match against Ilves with a big score, and Alisson said in an interview that the team would like to score just as many or even more in the second game. How do you manage to maintain such motivation in your players? (Football24.ua)
– First of all, we respect the game of football, we respect the opponents, as this is our job and we have to respect our rivals. We know their playing style well. We won 6-0 in the first meeting and nowadays it's difficult to beat any team in the world with such a scoreline, I said this after that match as well. But that game is already in the past. Tomorrow we'll try to play at our best and win again, because if we don't, the game will surely punish us. So we’ll be fully prepared for tomorrow’s match.
– Are you planning to rotate the squad tomorrow? (Shakhtar TV)
– Rotate? We don’t have such a concept as rotation because we have 24 good players and lots of matches. We’ll pick the best 11 to implement our strategy tomorrow.
– Hello, I’m from the Finnish media. A question about the Brazilian players in your team. The club has a big history with young Brazilians. What is the talent level of the current players?
(Finland media)
– First of all, we have a great team with many talented players – this applies not only to the Brazilians, but also to the Ukrainians, Georgians, we also have a Tunisian footballer and others. We see no difference between them in terms of talent and I have a very positive opinion of all of them. They are at a high level at Shakhtar, but if we’re talking about the very top level in the world, I believe at least 10 of our players are capable of playing there. Of course, development is an ongoing process and our goal is to ensure it. That’s exactly why we are here.
– Good evening, Mister. Can you say a few words about how you spent the week between the matches? We attended one of the training sessions at the camp, and Mario Mandžukić was there. Maybe a few words about this visit. What were his impressions of the team? (ua.tribuna.com)
– When we started this season, we treated it both as a preparation stage – a pre-season – and as a period with competitive matches, so we had to combine both parts and we’re trying to keep the balance. We’re working on tactics, physical condition and overall we’ve had intense training sessions during this time. Of course, we monitor the players’ medical and physical condition, and we always rely on science in our work. As for Mandžukić, he’s like a “crazy brother” to me because we spent some great days together in Spain. He was also Darijo Srna’s teammate in the Croatia national team. They made history together. It was a very nice evening among friends. We had dinner. I believe it’s very important for my players to see such legends at training sessions as they want to reach a certain level, and Mandžukić has already reached it. So it’s important that he can share his experience with them. I hope he’ll visit us again. Our doors are always open for former teammates because we enjoy working in a family-like atmosphere.
– What, in your opinion, is the perfect Shakhtar: an attacking team or, on the contrary, one focused on defence, since if you don’t concede, you don’t lose? What is your perfect Shakhtar and what will your philosophy be? What should we expect? (Football24.ua)
– Of course, we have a certain vision of how we want to play and we want to act as a whole team both in attack and in defence. This is very important. But in football, the most important thing is to execute individual moments correctly. There may be times when we have to defend with ten field players for 20 minutes, although of course we do not strive for that. We want to play together both in attack and defence. When we attack, we aim for quality transitions to defence. And when we defend, we likewise want to transition smartly into attack. In addition, we pay great attention to set pieces, since nowadays four out of ten goals are scored from set pieces, so this aspect must be taken seriously. We discuss all these points, but as I said, the most important thing is to act correctly in every specific moment. Whatever the moment demands, we must be ready for it. That is why we strive to have a well-balanced team in all respects.
– First of all, we respect the game of football, we respect the opponents, as this is our job and we have to respect our rivals. We know their playing style well. We won 6-0 in the first meeting and nowadays it's difficult to beat any team in the world with such a scoreline, I said this after that match as well. But that game is already in the past. Tomorrow we'll try to play at our best and win again, because if we don't, the game will surely punish us. So we’ll be fully prepared for tomorrow’s match.
– Are you planning to rotate the squad tomorrow? (Shakhtar TV)
– Rotate? We don’t have such a concept as rotation because we have 24 good players and lots of matches. We’ll pick the best 11 to implement our strategy tomorrow.
– Hello, I’m from the Finnish media. A question about the Brazilian players in your team. The club has a big history with young Brazilians. What is the talent level of the current players?
(Finland media)
– First of all, we have a great team with many talented players – this applies not only to the Brazilians, but also to the Ukrainians, Georgians, we also have a Tunisian footballer and others. We see no difference between them in terms of talent and I have a very positive opinion of all of them. They are at a high level at Shakhtar, but if we’re talking about the very top level in the world, I believe at least 10 of our players are capable of playing there. Of course, development is an ongoing process and our goal is to ensure it. That’s exactly why we are here.
– Good evening, Mister. Can you say a few words about how you spent the week between the matches? We attended one of the training sessions at the camp, and Mario Mandžukić was there. Maybe a few words about this visit. What were his impressions of the team? (ua.tribuna.com)
– When we started this season, we treated it both as a preparation stage – a pre-season – and as a period with competitive matches, so we had to combine both parts and we’re trying to keep the balance. We’re working on tactics, physical condition and overall we’ve had intense training sessions during this time. Of course, we monitor the players’ medical and physical condition, and we always rely on science in our work. As for Mandžukić, he’s like a “crazy brother” to me because we spent some great days together in Spain. He was also Darijo Srna’s teammate in the Croatia national team. They made history together. It was a very nice evening among friends. We had dinner. I believe it’s very important for my players to see such legends at training sessions as they want to reach a certain level, and Mandžukić has already reached it. So it’s important that he can share his experience with them. I hope he’ll visit us again. Our doors are always open for former teammates because we enjoy working in a family-like atmosphere.
– What, in your opinion, is the perfect Shakhtar: an attacking team or, on the contrary, one focused on defence, since if you don’t concede, you don’t lose? What is your perfect Shakhtar and what will your philosophy be? What should we expect? (Football24.ua)
– Of course, we have a certain vision of how we want to play and we want to act as a whole team both in attack and in defence. This is very important. But in football, the most important thing is to execute individual moments correctly. There may be times when we have to defend with ten field players for 20 minutes, although of course we do not strive for that. We want to play together both in attack and defence. When we attack, we aim for quality transitions to defence. And when we defend, we likewise want to transition smartly into attack. In addition, we pay great attention to set pieces, since nowadays four out of ten goals are scored from set pieces, so this aspect must be taken seriously. We discuss all these points, but as I said, the most important thing is to act correctly in every specific moment. Whatever the moment demands, we must be ready for it. That is why we strive to have a well-balanced team in all respects.