I didn’t even imagine the match would end like this
Friday, February 27, 2026
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Shakhtar defender and scorer of the winning goal Valerii Bondar shared his impressions of the victory over Veres on UPL.TV
– First of all, happy birthday and congratulations on the goal. It seems like a perfect sequence of events for such a day?
– Probably, yes. I didn’t even imagine the match would end like this. Today there were a lot of messages suggesting I’d score. It doesn’t happen very often that you play on your birthday. I’m really glad the team won, took the three points and are moving forward in the right direction.
– Let’s recall the goal: the ball bounced off the crossbar, you literally turned, saw it and struck immediately. Tell us, what was that moment like for you?
– At one point, I thought I should move to a different position during the corner, so I did. If I’m not mistaken, Traore played that moment really well, and I guess I just got lucky. But if I hadn’t hit the target, it would have been embarrassing. I’ve said many times that when the lads score into an empty net, they get lucky. Today I was lucky and managed to score this goal, helping the team secure the win.
– You say it’s good that the score ended this way, since the game wasn’t exactly easy. What specifically wasn’t working and why?
– We couldn’t score at the start of the first and second halves, even though we had plenty of chances. Basically, we reached the final third, but there we probably didn’t make the best decisions. We need to draw conclusions, review the video and be more dangerous in attack, looking for options and ways to break down the opposition’s defence so the match doesn’t end 1-0.
– Following the UEFA Conference League Round of 16 draw, Shakhtar will face Lech Poznań. What do you think of that draw and what are your first impressions?
– To be honest, I thought we’d face Samsunspor, since we were knocked out by Panathinaikos and should have played them, so I figured maybe fate would pair us with them. But as you can see, I guess God has His own plans. Lech it is – we’ll play two matches in Poland.
– Probably, yes. I didn’t even imagine the match would end like this. Today there were a lot of messages suggesting I’d score. It doesn’t happen very often that you play on your birthday. I’m really glad the team won, took the three points and are moving forward in the right direction.
– Let’s recall the goal: the ball bounced off the crossbar, you literally turned, saw it and struck immediately. Tell us, what was that moment like for you?
– At one point, I thought I should move to a different position during the corner, so I did. If I’m not mistaken, Traore played that moment really well, and I guess I just got lucky. But if I hadn’t hit the target, it would have been embarrassing. I’ve said many times that when the lads score into an empty net, they get lucky. Today I was lucky and managed to score this goal, helping the team secure the win.
– You say it’s good that the score ended this way, since the game wasn’t exactly easy. What specifically wasn’t working and why?
– We couldn’t score at the start of the first and second halves, even though we had plenty of chances. Basically, we reached the final third, but there we probably didn’t make the best decisions. We need to draw conclusions, review the video and be more dangerous in attack, looking for options and ways to break down the opposition’s defence so the match doesn’t end 1-0.
– Following the UEFA Conference League Round of 16 draw, Shakhtar will face Lech Poznań. What do you think of that draw and what are your first impressions?
– To be honest, I thought we’d face Samsunspor, since we were knocked out by Panathinaikos and should have played them, so I figured maybe fate would pair us with them. But as you can see, I guess God has His own plans. Lech it is – we’ll play two matches in Poland.