The game can be unfair to you
Saturday, October 24, 2026
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Shakhtar head coach Arda Turan’s press conference after the UPL match against Zorya
– First of all, I’d like to congratulate Zorya on a deserved point. We didn’t play the way I wanted us to in the first half, I wasn’t happy with how the game was going for us, we freshened things up in the second half, making several substitutions at once. As for the second half, I’m completely satisfied with the physical and mental commitment we showed compared to the first half. Unfortunately, in football, the game can be unfair to you in terms of the result, even when you do everything perfectly. We fully understand the difficult period we’re entering, we have a very packed schedule and a lot of matches to play, it’s a kind of darkness we’re entering for the second time under my management, for the second season in a row. However, the most important thing is that, as a team, we know where we’re going and can see the light even in the darkness. Now it’s important for us to put this setback behind us, learn from it and prepare as well as possible for our next match, against Dynamo Kyiv in the Ukrainian Cup.
– Welcome back to Lviv after the match in Milan. They say a wounded beast is twice as dangerous, and today Zorya wounded Shakhtar to some extent. How will this affect Tuesday’s match against Dynamo?
– I think that both in Milan, in northern Italy, and here today, we were dangerous enough in front of our opponents’ goal, so to some extent this won’t have much of an impact on our preparation for the match against Dynamo Kyiv. We always approach them with the utmost respect. They are a legendary club in Ukrainian and world football, so a lack of concentration is out of the question. Matches like these are always big and special, both for me as a football manager and for my players. I can say that, just as in our Champions League match, certain details let us down. We have to work on improving them because these small details taken together shaped the final scoreline. We cannot afford to get into dangerous positions and enter the opposition penalty area so often while failing to shoot and create genuine goalscoring opportunities often enough. We have to work on that. In big matches such as the one against Dynamo Kyiv or Champions League fixtures, we must be ready to take even the smallest of chances. And, of course, there is no question of failing to convert clear-cut opportunities. This is something we need to work on and improve in the short time we have before our next match.
– You are shaping not only Shakhtar’s tactical model but also a new set of cultural principles on the pitch. In your view, what is the hallmark of a mature team: the ability to listen to the coach or to trust their own instincts on the pitch?
– Both aspects are very important. It depends not only on me as a coach but also on the players themselves, on how willing they really are to listen to what we propose and how ready they are to believe in our communication and the idea we stand for. As I’ve already emphasised, not everything depends on me. A lot depends on each individual footballer. As head coach, together with my assistants, I can propose tactical solutions and explain how to create a numerical advantage in a particular area of the pitch, how to attack the half-spaces properly and so on. Both aspects are extremely important, but they have to go hand in hand. The beauty of football is that you can never predict how a match will unfold and that you can win in different ways. That’s precisely what attracts me to football: it always leaves room for surprises and the unexpected. So I like my players to listen to me, but above all, I want them to make decisions on the pitch based on their own abilities and belief in their values.
– A former Shakhtar player helped Inter score late in the match. Do you feel your current squad lacks a player of that kind?
– In fact, you could point to many players who performed better in that particular match, and I can’t afford to disrespect my own players by making such a comparison. They are the ones who helped me win the Ukrainian league title last season. They are the ones who took me to the UEFA Conference League semi-finals. So, of course, Mkhitaryan has long since written his name into football history. I have absolutely no doubts about his qualities and individual ability. However, I’m completely satisfied with the players I have at my disposal. You can also recall the moment when Mkhitaryan, in addition to providing that wonderful assist, missed a one-on-one chance after the goal had been scored, but that doesn’t make him any worse as a player. This is football and sometimes these things happen. It’s part of the game we love. What is important to me is to get across the message that my lads are part of my team not only when they win but also when we lose – we do it all together as one team and one family. I simply cannot allow myself to undermine their standing or their importance to me in any way, however small.
– Welcome back to Lviv after the match in Milan. They say a wounded beast is twice as dangerous, and today Zorya wounded Shakhtar to some extent. How will this affect Tuesday’s match against Dynamo?
– I think that both in Milan, in northern Italy, and here today, we were dangerous enough in front of our opponents’ goal, so to some extent this won’t have much of an impact on our preparation for the match against Dynamo Kyiv. We always approach them with the utmost respect. They are a legendary club in Ukrainian and world football, so a lack of concentration is out of the question. Matches like these are always big and special, both for me as a football manager and for my players. I can say that, just as in our Champions League match, certain details let us down. We have to work on improving them because these small details taken together shaped the final scoreline. We cannot afford to get into dangerous positions and enter the opposition penalty area so often while failing to shoot and create genuine goalscoring opportunities often enough. We have to work on that. In big matches such as the one against Dynamo Kyiv or Champions League fixtures, we must be ready to take even the smallest of chances. And, of course, there is no question of failing to convert clear-cut opportunities. This is something we need to work on and improve in the short time we have before our next match.
– You are shaping not only Shakhtar’s tactical model but also a new set of cultural principles on the pitch. In your view, what is the hallmark of a mature team: the ability to listen to the coach or to trust their own instincts on the pitch?
– Both aspects are very important. It depends not only on me as a coach but also on the players themselves, on how willing they really are to listen to what we propose and how ready they are to believe in our communication and the idea we stand for. As I’ve already emphasised, not everything depends on me. A lot depends on each individual footballer. As head coach, together with my assistants, I can propose tactical solutions and explain how to create a numerical advantage in a particular area of the pitch, how to attack the half-spaces properly and so on. Both aspects are extremely important, but they have to go hand in hand. The beauty of football is that you can never predict how a match will unfold and that you can win in different ways. That’s precisely what attracts me to football: it always leaves room for surprises and the unexpected. So I like my players to listen to me, but above all, I want them to make decisions on the pitch based on their own abilities and belief in their values.
– A former Shakhtar player helped Inter score late in the match. Do you feel your current squad lacks a player of that kind?
– In fact, you could point to many players who performed better in that particular match, and I can’t afford to disrespect my own players by making such a comparison. They are the ones who helped me win the Ukrainian league title last season. They are the ones who took me to the UEFA Conference League semi-finals. So, of course, Mkhitaryan has long since written his name into football history. I have absolutely no doubts about his qualities and individual ability. However, I’m completely satisfied with the players I have at my disposal. You can also recall the moment when Mkhitaryan, in addition to providing that wonderful assist, missed a one-on-one chance after the goal had been scored, but that doesn’t make him any worse as a player. This is football and sometimes these things happen. It’s part of the game we love. What is important to me is to get across the message that my lads are part of my team not only when they win but also when we lose – we do it all together as one team and one family. I simply cannot allow myself to undermine their standing or their importance to me in any way, however small.