“The Shakhtar wants everyone to respect the regulations”

FC Shakhtar Football Director Dario Srna commented on the cancellation of the match of the 13th day of the Premier League Ingulets – Shakhtar.

– Darío, when did you find out that the game might not take place? As was?

– Yesterday at about 15:30 I went immediately to the stadium. I saw that the field was not very good, it was frozen, ice. Then I found out that they didn’t turn on the heat. In the evening, as usual, I spoke with our president: even he wanted to pay personally to turn on the heating, but it was too late. Unfortunately such an ugly and unprofessional situation happened. Shakhtar did everything as he should: we arrived and lived in a hotel when they told us there would be no gambling. We are professionals, soccer players and we want to play soccer. Unfortunately, we did not make the decision to play today or not.

– How was the decision made at the pre-match meeting this morning? Who was present since Shakhtar?

– Our team manager Evgeny Chuprun, along with assistant coach Vitor Severino, attended the meeting. Even the head referee personally put on his boots and tried it on: it was slippery there, it was impossible even for him to stand up, but can you imagine how the players would do it? Therefore, the fact that “Ingulets” say that they did everything possible is not true. They didn’t turn on the heat. We are footballers, we are not afraid of Inter, Real or Borussia (Mönchengladbach). And, with all due respect to Ingulets, we are not afraid of them either. For our part, everything is clear and professional. We have done our job. In addition, the decision on the situation will be made by the UAF, the UPL, and we will respect any decision.

– What is the position of the club? What decision does Shakhtar expect?

– By decision of the UPL and UAF. We will respect any decision. We are professionals, we have done our job. We arrived, we spent a long time on the road, now we return by bus. Shakhtar always wants to play football. Shakhtar wants everyone to respect the rules. It is very important that this does not happen again. Also in February the weather will be like this: we have a lot of games even on those fields. I think this is unprofessional.

– What decision, in your opinion, would be fair in this situation?

– I am not a person who understands the laws of football regarding our situation. We prepare the players for the game. The lord prepared the composition and tactics. We were ready to play soccer.

– How did the players and coaches react to the fact that there would be no match?

– Nobody can believe that this can happen today in world football. This is disrespectful to fans of Ingulets, Shakhtar and Ukrainian football.