Важлива перемога над історично принциповим суперником
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
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Shakhtar head coach Arda Turan’s press conference after the Ukrainian Cup match against Dynamo (3-0)
– A win against historic rivals is extremely important for my footballers. We played against Inter Milan and also put in a good performance against Zorya Luhansk, but we couldn’t win that game, so it’s great to get back to winning ways once again. As I’ve already emphasised, Dynamo are our fierce rivals. But this victory won’t go to our heads. We have great respect for our opponents and would never allow ourselves to be arrogant or condescending. We’re already focusing on our next fixture in the Ukrainian league. The circumstances we’re dealing with, due to logistical and other related factors, are challenging. We’ll look for solutions because we have three hugely important games before the next international break, and they could prove decisive for our prospects this season. To be honest, we’re more than tired, but we accept the challenge and move forward.
– Was this victory revenge for the previous edition of the Cup? Did the footballers carry out the plan you set out for them today? And did you watch yesterday’s Galatasaray vs Fenerbahçe match?
– To be honest, I don’t think the word ‘revenge’ is appropriate. We’re in a situation where our country is going through a terrible full-scale war. This is football, it’s sport, and it’s certainly a fierce rivalry, but above all, the word that matters to us is ‘respect’. I’ve emphasised many times how much I respect Dynamo Kyiv. We had the privilege of playing a knockout match, a one-off tie at our home ground. I’d like to stress that I’m pleased with how the match unfolded and how my team worked together, even before the sending-off in the 30th minute, when both teams had 11 players on the pitch. As for the second part of your question, I watched the match, but only the first half. As you know, I’m a very emotional person and I love football and the emotions it brings, so I switched to PSG vs Lyon for the second half because Luis Enrique, whom I know well, is currently in charge of the Parisian club. Of course, yesterday I was fully focused on preparing properly for the Cup tie.
– What matters more to you: playing well but not getting the best result, as in Milan, or getting the result even if the performance isn’t at its best?
– Honestly, I can’t recall many games in which we played really badly but still got a positive result. The only example that comes to mind is our round 3 league match against Kharkiv, when we genuinely allowed the opposition to dominate. If you can think of any other examples, of course, feel free to disagree with me. We played well against Inter, but lacked precision in certain details. At this level, playing well isn’t enough – you have to be as precise as possible in executing the details that determine the outcome of a match. During my playing career, I often travelled with Atlético Madrid to stadiums like that, with that kind of atmosphere. From my own experience, I can confirm how important it is to take your chances at the right moment and in the right place. I’ll be honest with Atlético, we created fewer chances but were more clinical in taking them. I can recall Ocheretko shooting but lacking accuracy, Newertton failing to score in the closing minutes, and Alisson also having chances of his own. We have to work on all these situations that arise inside the opposition’s penalty area to improve our composure and decisiveness when making decisions. I’ve never liked the idea of getting results without playing good football. If I wanted to take that approach, I would have told my team to launch long balls forward in the closing minutes against Inter. But even in those circumstances, we chose not to follow that approach.
– Did Shakhtar’s approach change after the red card? What did you tell the players: that the win was already in the bag or that they had to do everything to avoid a repeat of what happened in Milan? Also, did Oleksandr Karavaiev perhaps help you tactically ahead of facing his former club?
– The initial plan was to save him for Friday’s league match against Obolon. His decision-making in the final third would have been useful to me. As for the match against Dynamo, I think it followed a very similar pattern, but this time the key details went our way and decided the game in our favour. Perhaps, to some extent, if we look at the period when both teams had 11 players on the pitch, Dynamo created more danger than Inter did in that match. I’d also add that you should never judge a game solely by the final score. Dynamo created a lot of dangerous chances from corners, and perhaps if they had taken them, who knows how the game might have unfolded. Compared with the match against Inter you mentioned, I think that even then we were more tenacious and disciplined in our defensive work against set pieces. It’s very important that the final result doesn’t go to our heads and make fools of us.
– In the space of seven days, you played an important and difficult match against Inter, got a less-than-satisfactory result against Zorya, and have now faced Dynamo. How difficult is it to get the team refocused and work on recovery in such a short space of time?
– I constantly emphasise, both at press conferences and directly to the players in the dressing room, that we are one team, one family. I also try to get across to them that every aspect of the game matters, whether it’s positional play, counter-attacking or set pieces. Speaking of set pieces, I believe they account for around 40 per cent of goals in modern football. So what matters is not so much how the game unfolds, but how we respond to it and how quickly we can come up with solutions. Mykola is a true leader, our captain and the leader of the dressing room. He’s very good at getting certain messages across, sometimes it’s more effective coming from a fellow player than from me as the head coach. Yes, we dropped two important points against Zorya, which is frustrating in the context of the league table, but more importantly, we managed to keep all our footballers fit, and they’re all in good condition ahead of our upcoming matches. That matters even more to me. We’ll approach our next match against Obolon with different solutions and a different system. But the most important thing is to have solutions ready for every possible scenario, even the most unexpected one.
– Arda, could you give us an update on Pedrinho’s fitness? There are reports that he’ll be out for a long time and will need surgery. Can you tell us more?
– Yes, he’ll have to undergo surgery, and I’m deeply saddened by this. I honestly can’t even find the words to describe how upset I am about it. We feel more confident in any situation with him in the team. I suppose Isaque will now have to fill that role on his own. We’ll try to develop other tactical solutions. I think we’ll look at using Newertton and Alisson in that position. But, of course, in terms of the atmosphere in the dressing room and his importance to the team, it’s difficult for me to put into words just how significant this loss is for us.
– When you lost to Dynamo in the Ukrainian Cup last year, one of their players, Denys Popov, made some unpleasant comments to the media about the current league and your Brazilian players, calling them fake Brazilians and saying it was a parody. Did you perhaps show that video to your Brazilian players before the match?
– No, I didn’t show them anything because my footballers are real Brazilians.
– Are you satisfied with how your team took their chances? Or would you have liked to score more goals, given that Dynamo were down to ten men?
– We play every three days, and honestly, sometimes it’s difficult for me to find clean underwear to change into because of our packed schedule. I think the lads did a fantastic job. At the same time, I’ve repeatedly praised our opponents and acknowledged how well prepared they are overall. We and the other teams are trying to represent Ukraine’s image in the world of football, and that’s an incredible job. I also want to stress once again how upset I am about losing Pedrinho. Our demanding, crazy schedule is one of the reasons we’ve lost him for such a long time. The inability to recover properly and organise logistics that are even remotely suitable for football competitions leads to problems like this. If I had to choose between winning by a narrow margin and winning an emotional penalty shootout, I’d choose the narrow victory.
– The whole football world was watching the Ballon d’Or ceremony yesterday, where Harry Kane ultimately won the award. Do you see any players in the Ukrainian league who could win it in the future?
– Among the Ukrainians, it could be Ponomarenko as he has excellent qualities. Perhaps one day Alisson or Isaque could win it too. But my favourite for this year’s Ballon d’Or was Lamine Yamal. Of course, I respect Harry Kane – he’s done a fantastic job, scoring 61 goals in a year. That’s incredible! And perhaps one day we’ll see Ponomarenko up there too. Do you believe in him as well?
– Ukraine has already had three Ballon d’Or winners, so perhaps there’ll be another one in the future.
– Yes, Ukraine has already had a Ballon d’Or winner. We haven’t had one in Türkiye, so we’re waiting for Arda Güler. But one day, you could win the Ballon d’Or again. Perhaps you should ask Andrii Shevchenko that question, as he has far more experience than I do. He won the Ballon d’Or and knows much more about it than I do.
– Your players are currently playing abroad against foreign clubs. In your opinion, how do these matches differ from games against Ukrainian opponents?
– Honestly, I think it’s harder to play in the Ukrainian league. You don’t need to find any extra motivation for Champions League matches, the footballers go into those games focused and fired up. On the other hand, all the teams in the Ukrainian league have incredible tactical discipline and resilience, which makes it difficult for us to progress up the pitch and create chances with our style of football. So, if you’re not fully prepared, you can be punished very harshly if you let your guard down. I hope that one day Ukrainian stadiums will once again be packed, including the Arena Lviv and other wonderful grounds. At certain moments, the fans’ support is the best weapon you can have in your arsenal. Without exaggeration, they’re the twelfth man, and at times we miss having that. I hope we’ll all live to see those emotions return.
– Was this victory revenge for the previous edition of the Cup? Did the footballers carry out the plan you set out for them today? And did you watch yesterday’s Galatasaray vs Fenerbahçe match?
– To be honest, I don’t think the word ‘revenge’ is appropriate. We’re in a situation where our country is going through a terrible full-scale war. This is football, it’s sport, and it’s certainly a fierce rivalry, but above all, the word that matters to us is ‘respect’. I’ve emphasised many times how much I respect Dynamo Kyiv. We had the privilege of playing a knockout match, a one-off tie at our home ground. I’d like to stress that I’m pleased with how the match unfolded and how my team worked together, even before the sending-off in the 30th minute, when both teams had 11 players on the pitch. As for the second part of your question, I watched the match, but only the first half. As you know, I’m a very emotional person and I love football and the emotions it brings, so I switched to PSG vs Lyon for the second half because Luis Enrique, whom I know well, is currently in charge of the Parisian club. Of course, yesterday I was fully focused on preparing properly for the Cup tie.
– What matters more to you: playing well but not getting the best result, as in Milan, or getting the result even if the performance isn’t at its best?
– Honestly, I can’t recall many games in which we played really badly but still got a positive result. The only example that comes to mind is our round 3 league match against Kharkiv, when we genuinely allowed the opposition to dominate. If you can think of any other examples, of course, feel free to disagree with me. We played well against Inter, but lacked precision in certain details. At this level, playing well isn’t enough – you have to be as precise as possible in executing the details that determine the outcome of a match. During my playing career, I often travelled with Atlético Madrid to stadiums like that, with that kind of atmosphere. From my own experience, I can confirm how important it is to take your chances at the right moment and in the right place. I’ll be honest with Atlético, we created fewer chances but were more clinical in taking them. I can recall Ocheretko shooting but lacking accuracy, Newertton failing to score in the closing minutes, and Alisson also having chances of his own. We have to work on all these situations that arise inside the opposition’s penalty area to improve our composure and decisiveness when making decisions. I’ve never liked the idea of getting results without playing good football. If I wanted to take that approach, I would have told my team to launch long balls forward in the closing minutes against Inter. But even in those circumstances, we chose not to follow that approach.
– Did Shakhtar’s approach change after the red card? What did you tell the players: that the win was already in the bag or that they had to do everything to avoid a repeat of what happened in Milan? Also, did Oleksandr Karavaiev perhaps help you tactically ahead of facing his former club?
– The initial plan was to save him for Friday’s league match against Obolon. His decision-making in the final third would have been useful to me. As for the match against Dynamo, I think it followed a very similar pattern, but this time the key details went our way and decided the game in our favour. Perhaps, to some extent, if we look at the period when both teams had 11 players on the pitch, Dynamo created more danger than Inter did in that match. I’d also add that you should never judge a game solely by the final score. Dynamo created a lot of dangerous chances from corners, and perhaps if they had taken them, who knows how the game might have unfolded. Compared with the match against Inter you mentioned, I think that even then we were more tenacious and disciplined in our defensive work against set pieces. It’s very important that the final result doesn’t go to our heads and make fools of us.
– In the space of seven days, you played an important and difficult match against Inter, got a less-than-satisfactory result against Zorya, and have now faced Dynamo. How difficult is it to get the team refocused and work on recovery in such a short space of time?
– I constantly emphasise, both at press conferences and directly to the players in the dressing room, that we are one team, one family. I also try to get across to them that every aspect of the game matters, whether it’s positional play, counter-attacking or set pieces. Speaking of set pieces, I believe they account for around 40 per cent of goals in modern football. So what matters is not so much how the game unfolds, but how we respond to it and how quickly we can come up with solutions. Mykola is a true leader, our captain and the leader of the dressing room. He’s very good at getting certain messages across, sometimes it’s more effective coming from a fellow player than from me as the head coach. Yes, we dropped two important points against Zorya, which is frustrating in the context of the league table, but more importantly, we managed to keep all our footballers fit, and they’re all in good condition ahead of our upcoming matches. That matters even more to me. We’ll approach our next match against Obolon with different solutions and a different system. But the most important thing is to have solutions ready for every possible scenario, even the most unexpected one.
– Arda, could you give us an update on Pedrinho’s fitness? There are reports that he’ll be out for a long time and will need surgery. Can you tell us more?
– Yes, he’ll have to undergo surgery, and I’m deeply saddened by this. I honestly can’t even find the words to describe how upset I am about it. We feel more confident in any situation with him in the team. I suppose Isaque will now have to fill that role on his own. We’ll try to develop other tactical solutions. I think we’ll look at using Newertton and Alisson in that position. But, of course, in terms of the atmosphere in the dressing room and his importance to the team, it’s difficult for me to put into words just how significant this loss is for us.
– When you lost to Dynamo in the Ukrainian Cup last year, one of their players, Denys Popov, made some unpleasant comments to the media about the current league and your Brazilian players, calling them fake Brazilians and saying it was a parody. Did you perhaps show that video to your Brazilian players before the match?
– No, I didn’t show them anything because my footballers are real Brazilians.
– Are you satisfied with how your team took their chances? Or would you have liked to score more goals, given that Dynamo were down to ten men?
– We play every three days, and honestly, sometimes it’s difficult for me to find clean underwear to change into because of our packed schedule. I think the lads did a fantastic job. At the same time, I’ve repeatedly praised our opponents and acknowledged how well prepared they are overall. We and the other teams are trying to represent Ukraine’s image in the world of football, and that’s an incredible job. I also want to stress once again how upset I am about losing Pedrinho. Our demanding, crazy schedule is one of the reasons we’ve lost him for such a long time. The inability to recover properly and organise logistics that are even remotely suitable for football competitions leads to problems like this. If I had to choose between winning by a narrow margin and winning an emotional penalty shootout, I’d choose the narrow victory.
– The whole football world was watching the Ballon d’Or ceremony yesterday, where Harry Kane ultimately won the award. Do you see any players in the Ukrainian league who could win it in the future?
– Among the Ukrainians, it could be Ponomarenko as he has excellent qualities. Perhaps one day Alisson or Isaque could win it too. But my favourite for this year’s Ballon d’Or was Lamine Yamal. Of course, I respect Harry Kane – he’s done a fantastic job, scoring 61 goals in a year. That’s incredible! And perhaps one day we’ll see Ponomarenko up there too. Do you believe in him as well?
– Ukraine has already had three Ballon d’Or winners, so perhaps there’ll be another one in the future.
– Yes, Ukraine has already had a Ballon d’Or winner. We haven’t had one in Türkiye, so we’re waiting for Arda Güler. But one day, you could win the Ballon d’Or again. Perhaps you should ask Andrii Shevchenko that question, as he has far more experience than I do. He won the Ballon d’Or and knows much more about it than I do.
– Your players are currently playing abroad against foreign clubs. In your opinion, how do these matches differ from games against Ukrainian opponents?
– Honestly, I think it’s harder to play in the Ukrainian league. You don’t need to find any extra motivation for Champions League matches, the footballers go into those games focused and fired up. On the other hand, all the teams in the Ukrainian league have incredible tactical discipline and resilience, which makes it difficult for us to progress up the pitch and create chances with our style of football. So, if you’re not fully prepared, you can be punished very harshly if you let your guard down. I hope that one day Ukrainian stadiums will once again be packed, including the Arena Lviv and other wonderful grounds. At certain moments, the fans’ support is the best weapon you can have in your arsenal. Without exaggeration, they’re the twelfth man, and at times we miss having that. I hope we’ll all live to see those emotions return.