“Shakhtar will seek victory in the match with Borussia”

Shakhtar coach Luis Castro commented on the 1-1 draw in the UPL game against Oleksandriya, as well as the upcoming Champions League game against Borussia Mönchengladbach.

– The elimination of Moraes exposed the problem of Shakhtar’s second striker. Do you agree that there is no other alternative and this issue needs to be addressed?

– No, we have Fernando and we have Dentinho. When the elimination happened, we had to change a few things. The situation was unexpected, no one was warming up. It was necessary to give the players time to warm up before entering the field, because we already have many injuries. With that climate, he didn’t want to let the “cold” player go, they let him warm up. Besides Moraes, there are Fernando and Dentinho in the forward position. We decided to wear Dentinho. Later they pushed him to the side, Tete -to the position of the left back- Fernando also released. During the match we use the three attackers we have. They passed Fernando and pushed Dentinho to the left to open up more zones for Tete. Dodo was on the other flank. We gave Maikon more freedom to attack actions, fixing Stepanenko. Then there is Solomon. Quantitatively, everything was going well ahead. Sadly, we couldn’t win despite everything we tried to do as a team.

– It is not the first time that Ekaterina Monzul has sent players off for such fouls. What do you think of Moraes’ red card?

– Analyzing the arbitration is not in my habits, I will not do it. Mrs. Arbiter decided this is a move. I’ll say what I saw and felt: Moraes slipped, it was not on purpose. I think you can see it. The way he slipped and crashed into an opponent was unexpected to the player himself. The referee made the decision to remove. It happened very early. We already had a lot of problems before the game. Unfortunately, we couldn’t win and that was our goal.

– The absence of Khocholava, Bondar, Trubin and Marlos can be explained by the trip and the return of the national team. Why did Tyson not enter the application?

– All the players who were not there today are injured or in quarantine. Now I can talk about everyone. Kovalenko with coronavirus, Tyson and Khocholava are injured. Malyshev, Konoplyanka – injured. Marlos, Trubin, Bondar are in quarantine because they had contact with other boys from the Ukrainian team. I don’t know if I’m forgetting someone now – we have 9-10 players who can’t be with us due to illness, injury, or quarantine. This is the world we live in today. There are many difficulties for coaches. We try to make the best decisions, but there are very difficult and complex moments. Unfortunately, we now live in a very strange world. It’s complicated.

– You decided to use Cipriano on the left and not move Matvienko to this position. Should we expect a Brazilian from the first minutes in Germany?

– I made this decision, because the central Matvienko and Kryvtsov who returned from the national team give some stability. There was also a second idea. Now we have neither Cooper, nor Khocholava, so we would have put Vitao with Krivtsov, and Matvienko could have been pushed to the left. But in this case, there would be a couple of center-backs who are not so used to each other, and Matvienko would play in a position he is not used to. That is, they could generate instability in two areas, which is not good. Cipriano trained well. Yes, he received a yellow card very early; then it seemed to me that it was not deserved. Anyway, I explained.

– What is your opinion on the situation with the cancellation of the match between the teams of Ukraine and Switzerland? What solution can there be?

– What to comment? Now there are very strange situations that we do not understand. I don’t even know what to say. Some games are canceled, others are not canceled. Some can play, while others for some reason cannot. Now, in general, everything incomprehensible happens in football. There is no public in the stadiums, but there is an audience at some other events. Or today it is possible, but the day after tomorrow it is impossible. Or in the Champions it is possible, but not in the championship. Honestly, I don’t understand some things. I think you can do everything with the rules. According to the rules, you can bring people to the stadiums. There must be rules for living in this new world. People go to cinemas, but not to stadiums. There are not enough fans in the stadiums, no matter ours or other teams’. The stadium must have energy and soul. And they are empty, heartless and soulless. Psychologically, this has a terrible effect on all of us. Also, the season started right after the previous one. All this tires us.

– The next match will be in the Champions League against Borussia M. How will Shakhtar appear in this match?

– Shakhtar will seek victory, as he always does. It is often believed that what happened earlier in the championship or the Champions League will somehow have a logical effect. No, now there is no logic in football, anything can happen. Our goal is to show a good performance in the next Champions League match and to achieve a good result that will keep us in this competition.