“The journalists did not ask Zidane about Shakhtar. This is disrespectful. “

Shakhtar coach Luis Castro shared his expectations for the Champions League away game against Real Madrid, which will take place on Wednesday, October 21:

– Would you like to postpone the match with Real Madrid due to the large number of absent players?

– There are certain rules, we must act in accordance with the regulations. If you ask me, what would I prefer? Of course, playing with Real Madrid in a period when we don’t have so many absent players.

Now we are living a nightmare. There are no Krivtsov, Matvienko, Ismaily, Stepanenko, Patrick, Kovalenko, Tyson, Moraes, Bolbat and other players. This is not what any coach wants. But this in no way exempts us from responsibility. Shakhtar wants to show a good game and achieve the same result.

– Will Shakhtar deviate from his philosophy in the game against Real, as the Ukrainian team did in the game against Spain?

– I watched the two matches between Ukraine and Spain. I want to congratulate Andriy Shevchenko and the entire Ukrainian team on this result. Spain created a large number of opportunities, but did not take advantage of them. But Shakhtar lost their players and style.

In games, we don’t always do what we want, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to. Often the opponent does not allow it. We want to dominate, attack together, staying strong on the defensive, without allowing the opponent to attack, possess the ball and create more chances than the opponent. But when you play with such a powerful team, you may have to play differently. We need to approach this match a little differently.

– Please comment on the difficult situation of Real Madrid after the defeat against Cádiz (0: 1).

– Are you kidding me? What difficult Real Madrid situation are you talking about? This team won the Champions League three times in a row. What problems can there be with these players? I beg you. Shakhtar want to beat Real, but the defeat in Cádiz will not affect them. Crisis in Real? He’s gone. Think of the big losses at Bayern, Barcelona, ​​Manchester United, Liverpool, PSG and Manchester City. These clubs play a lot of games, so they sometimes lose, but they have no problems.

Don’t think about the game against Cádiz. Yes, the latest results are remembered, but the latest negative results from the European giants only show what is happening in football now: due to the large number of matches, there is fatigue and stress. Teams go from season to season with no holidays. But I can’t say that after the defeat against Cádiz, the Madrid club stopped being strong. This is a super strong team. We want to show ourselves with dignity in the match with him. Even if we had those 13 players absent, Shakhtar would not have moved Real from the favorite position.

– The Spanish journalists did not ask Zidane a single question about Shakhtar in the pre-match press conference, not seeing him as a threat, although it was the Ukrainian club that went to the Spanish from the second basket, and not the Inter or Borussia Monchengladbach. How confident are the Donetsk club players that they can play well against Real Madrid?

– This is disrespectful, journalists could at least ask something about Shakhtar. Even if we are not living the best time now, this is disrespectful. There are many people in the world who do not respect themselves. It will be like this forever. I don’t like this, I’m against it. But we have to live with it. There is nothing worse in the world if we underestimate others. All must be respected. The coronavirus has not taught everyone, some people think they are superior to others, that they are better. It’s sad but true.