I managed to score in Darijo’s style
Friday, November 7, 2025
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Shakhtar midfielder Artem Bondarenko shared his impressions of the winning game vs Breiðablik (2-0)
– Artem, Shakhtar secured a confident victory in the Conference League match. How would you summarise this encounter?
– I think the game, basically, went well for us, everything was fine, maybe only the last 20 minutes were a bit messy because we relaxed a little, but overall we are happy that we managed to win after Legia, thank God it worked out that way.
– You scored a fantastic goal after a corner. Can you recall that moment and analyse your actions at that time?
– Everything happened very quickly. We had practised it during the training session the day before, and, to be honest, it went much worse then, but this time it worked out. Yehor gave me a great pass and all that was left was to finish it in Darijo’s style.
– Did you anticipate that you would score like that? Did the coaching staff give any instructions, did they believe in you?
– I hope they did, but, to be honest, it’s quite a difficult shot, so I believed, but I didn’t really expect to score.
– Did you feel on the pitch that the opponents were below Shakhtar in level and can it be said that the advantage in this match was entirely yours?
– With all due respect to the opponents, I think we are of a higher class. However, with improper attitude towards the opponents, it’s hard to beat even such teams, so we showed respect and went out fully focused. We understood that we needed to earn points, especially after the match with Legia.
– At the moment, the coaching staff are rotating the squad as much as possible and it’s not clear who starts and who doesn’t – Arda Turan doesn’t have that distinction. How does this affect you overall?
– It doesn’t affect us in any way. That’s his idea – he believes in 20–25 strong players, as he says: “One team – one family”. So that’s his approach.
– But this approach is good in the sense that you can get some rest, isn’t it?
– You can get some rest, but every footballer wants to play in all matches.
– After three Conference League games, Shakhtar have two wins. How do you assess the team’s chances in the tournament?
– I think everything should be fine.
– I think the game, basically, went well for us, everything was fine, maybe only the last 20 minutes were a bit messy because we relaxed a little, but overall we are happy that we managed to win after Legia, thank God it worked out that way.
– You scored a fantastic goal after a corner. Can you recall that moment and analyse your actions at that time?
– Everything happened very quickly. We had practised it during the training session the day before, and, to be honest, it went much worse then, but this time it worked out. Yehor gave me a great pass and all that was left was to finish it in Darijo’s style.
– Did you anticipate that you would score like that? Did the coaching staff give any instructions, did they believe in you?
– I hope they did, but, to be honest, it’s quite a difficult shot, so I believed, but I didn’t really expect to score.
– Did you feel on the pitch that the opponents were below Shakhtar in level and can it be said that the advantage in this match was entirely yours?
– With all due respect to the opponents, I think we are of a higher class. However, with improper attitude towards the opponents, it’s hard to beat even such teams, so we showed respect and went out fully focused. We understood that we needed to earn points, especially after the match with Legia.
– At the moment, the coaching staff are rotating the squad as much as possible and it’s not clear who starts and who doesn’t – Arda Turan doesn’t have that distinction. How does this affect you overall?
– It doesn’t affect us in any way. That’s his idea – he believes in 20–25 strong players, as he says: “One team – one family”. So that’s his approach.
– But this approach is good in the sense that you can get some rest, isn’t it?
– You can get some rest, but every footballer wants to play in all matches.
– After three Conference League games, Shakhtar have two wins. How do you assess the team’s chances in the tournament?
– I think everything should be fine.