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In this Champions League, Shakhtar revealed their new identity. If under Lucescu it was a team that strictly adhered to a single style (defensive matches were a rarity, the most famous of them, perhaps, in the UEFA Super Cup against Barcelona), and under Fonseca it was a team without individual features clear, then under Castro “Shakhtar” has become (or is becoming) a team that knows and does not hesitate to choose tactics based on the opponent’s style of play.
Did you notice a feature? Shakhtar’s results in this Champions League are exceptionally double. Twice we lost hopelessly to Borussia M, although they used a different set of players; defeated Real Madrid twice with the same expectant style. Twice tied strictly defensively and unmistakably against Inter. At the same time, Milan’s match was of better quality than Kiev’s.
“- Inter played 0-0 against Shakhtar twice, but beat this team 5-0 in the semi-finals of the Europa League in August …
“They changed their tactics to neutralize us. They lost 0: 5, so they changed the game. Think before asking questions [обратился Конте к журналисту]“– Faced with this situation, the “Inter” coach signed his own ailment, admitted surrendering in the confrontation, which in the pre-match layouts resembled the battle of David and Goliath. But Conte’s problems are far away for us; The most important thing for us is that the Inter coach quietly emphasized Castro’s ability to quickly learn from mistakes and draw conclusions.
Once again, only the confrontation with Borussia is out of this box. But Kashtru, despite this failure, has every reason to be proud of himself and the team. In this Champions League, the players who were far from Shakhtar’s starting roster were revealed. It’s not about Solomon, Tete, or Maicon stubbornly knocking on the doors of the main team, it’s about Vitao, Bondar, Trubin, Kornienko.
How did Vitao play against Real Madrid a week ago? Perfect. How did Cooper face Lukaku and company in Inter’s first game? Also pretty good. But the Brazilian was injured yesterday in the first half, and Bondar just wasn’t calm. With each Valery touch to the ball, tension and uncertainty were felt. It seemed that the Shakhtar could not fail. But it did not fail, and this is a miracle, considering that in addition to Cooper, David Khocholava also opposed Lukaku, Martinez and other Inter players.
Trubin is a hero, it is not surprising that he was nominated for the title of best player of the week in the Champions League. However, excuse me, there were games in this Champions League in which the Ukrainian goalkeepers made not four saves, but thirteen. Who knows if Anatoly would have faced such a burden yesterday. But there was no such burden. The Shakhtar defense did not allow it. And it was not Cooper, not Vitao, not Khocholava, but Taras Stepanenko who led this defense.
An incredible match from the leader of Shakhtar. Let’s remember the duel with “Zorya” (2: 2), when Taras burned the center of the field and was the locomotive of the team, a force that did not let a daring rival win. Yesterday’s game showed that Taras is reliable not only in the support zone. Against Inter, he acted almost like a libero, the last defender to clean up behind his partners. Yes, because of the absence of Taras I lost the center of the field, it was very easy for the Inter players to reach the penalty area. But there they were already hitting the wall.
An excellent move by Castro: he found a new position for the player, revealed a new model of the game. Excellent Stepanenko Football – A quality footballer performs efficiently in any part of the field.
