“Shakhtar now lives in an atmosphere of fear”

Shakhtar mentor Luis Castro commented on the 5-1 win over Lvov in the UPL game and the upcoming Champions League game against Real Madrid.

– For the first time, Shakhtar faced the coronavirus so seriously and went into self-isolation. To what extent did this situation affect the team psychologically?

– Very. Now we live in an atmosphere of fear. Despite all precautions being taken, we have this and the whole world. About half a million people were infected yesterday. And sadly, we also suffer, although not in such proportions. But for a soccer team, suddenly running out of a dozen players is a nightmare. At the same time, we needed to adapt quickly. At first we trained with 6 players, then we took out some of the double guys … It seemed like they were trying to build a team to play against Lvov. Thank goodness we have pretty great professionals who are fully dedicated to their daily work. This allowed us to play, I will not say completely calm, but with confidence. We approached the match correctly and were able to show a decent game. But due to the absence of many players, we are now living not a good time, but a nightmare.

– Can this match be considered as a rehearsal prior to the meeting with Real Madrid?

– Repetition? When you have 13 players, you won’t stray too far from the starting lineup for the next fight. Fortunately, I really trust my players, I really appreciate them for how they work, how they indulge in training. This allows me to sleep well. I believe in them, although they are not so many. We will travel to Madrid with the confidence that we will try to give the best of ourselves. We will try to get a good result at the start of the Champions League.

– Can Stepanenko and Pyatov play for Real?

– We’re talking about guys who haven’t done anything for 12 days. Today it makes no sense to talk about players who have not been with us and have not trained, whether they can play for Real Madrid or not. My attention is directed to those who are with us. Some are expected to be able to rejoin the team and spend at least a few minutes of playing time. Now it is very important to get these guys back as soon as possible to understand what we can do in Madrid.

– What can you say about Kovalenko? Is there any information about it?

– Kovalenko was crazy about the Madrid game. If it is ready, it will be a surprise.

– Comment on Lvov’s goal. Don’t you think Shakhtar concedes too often after corners?

– We always have problems when we concede goals, not just after innings. The footballers know that for me conceding goals is the worst thing that can happen. Even though we later won 4: 0. We lost a lot of different goals: both regular attacks and set pieces. Frankly, there are some protection issues. Fortunately, our attack today was much, much better than defense. But commenting on a goal now is saying what everyone has seen. Our goalkeeper intercepted the ball, the rival footballer shot without resistance and scored. We know that when this happens, there are players who were not efficient enough in their tasks. But football is built on this, on mistakes and their use by the enemy.