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Coach ““Mircea Lucescu at the pre-match press conference shared his expectations of the match in the first round of the group stage of the Champions League against Juventus.
– How would you rate the technical talent of Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo?
– I have said many times that they are completely different things: being a player and a coach. Pirlo is a young coach, he learns during games and training sessions. And the actions of the coaches are judged by the results. Then you have everything ahead. As for the lack of coaching experience … We won’t play tomorrow anyway, neither me nor Pirlo. The teams are playing.
– Did you call Andrea? It is your student …
– Of course, we talk to him from time to time. I congratulated him when he was appointed Juventus coach. It cannot be otherwise, because he is my student, player. For me, he will always remain a 15-16 year old boy who made his debut with me. He was a clever soccer player beyond his age. But he will never be my rival. He was my player, so he will remain. As a coach, Pirlo has everything ahead of him, because he is only at the beginning of the road. And of course I wish him the best.
– The current Juve is constantly changing the model of its game. Is this an advantage for Dynamo or a puzzle?
– A team like Juventus can play in different schemes, as it has a large number of experienced and skilled players at its disposal. Also, there is no such inconsistency in the game of this team: yes, Juventus can play in attack in different ways, but in defense, in the end, it changes to a 4-4-2 formation. And the most important thing is not the game scheme, but the motivation and discipline of the players in a particular match. At this level, the coach adapts to the game and the players; after all, it is they who solve the problem in the field. Depending on this, the game outline is also built.
– There is an opinion that Juventus is stronger without Ronaldo, as he does not participate at all in the defensive actions of the team. Do you agree with this statement?
– Ronaldo is an outstanding footballer who contributes goals and victories. He is selfish in this sense. If he doesn’t score, then he’s not Ronaldo. Especially now, when he’s under great pressure from the outside. He, among other things, is constantly reminded of his age. Everything forces him to score in every game. So Juventus with Ronaldo is certainly stronger than without him.
– How nervous are the young players on your team before the start of the Champions League group stage? Aren’t you afraid that they will burn?
– This is an important game for young footballers. Much, of course, now depends on how successfully you cope with this stress, overcome this pressure. After all, we are expecting a game of a really high level. Naturally, in such a situation there are emotions, this is normal.
It is not easy during the two months that we had to go through this stage, immediately finding ourselves at such a responsible level. But the boys have grown a lot as footballers during this time. I have confidence in them, I believe that they can overcome this difficult moment and take a step to a new level.
– What do you pay more attention to when preparing for tomorrow’s game?
– Because Juventus is a team and a club of the highest level. I think our entire budget is half Ronaldo’s salary. That is why I strive to give my players complete information about the qualities of our opponents, so that they get to know each Juventus player in depth. And then so that through team actions they could play with them on equal terms and even better.
– In 2012, under his leadership, Shakhtar played for Juventuom in the same Champions League group. Then you lost in one of the matches with this team – 0: 1, and in the other you drew – 1: 1. Why couldn’t you achieve more?
– In one of these matches, we should have won. Now you’ll say I’m sticking with refereeing, but in that fight there should have been a foul penalty on Willian. And we lost the Bonucci standard. Tomorrow he will have to pay special attention, he is one of the best players from set pieces. And so, in general, in that game we dominated and we looked very good, we deserved to win.
We lost the second game. Pirlo marked us, by the way. By this time, we had already left the group, and our Brazilian legionaries were mentally in Brazil on vacation.
I hope that tomorrow we will play as well as Shakhtar did at the time, in terms of the quality of the game.
