Shakhtar defender Valeriy Bondar commented on the victory over Dynamo in the Ukrainian Championship match.
Photo: shakhtar.com
“What kind of moments did Dynamo have? Maybe one iron one in the whole game”
“I can say from the game that it was very difficult, after all, we met with a fundamental opponent,” admitted defender Valery Bondar. “I think that we played a very good match and fully deserved this victory.” Dynamo dominated at moments and had more opportunities to end the match in our favor. We have accomplished everything we agreed on, but there is still room for improvement. We need to do better what we did today and improve our game.
– What did you agree on? What was the tactical plan for the game?
– Hold the ball, play combinations and play mainly in the opponent’s half of the field.
— Do you agree that in the first half Dynamo played no worse than Shakhtar and had even more chances to open the scoring?
— What moments did Dynamo have? They may have had some half-chances, but not ones that could have led to goals scored. Well, maybe one iron one in the whole game. But in the end we managed to keep a clean sheet. And personally, I’m happy with it!
— When defender Azarov was injured and Rakitsky entered the field, what changed?
— In tactical terms, nothing. Matvienko simply moved to the left, and Rakitsky took his place, next to me.
“We knew that we would definitely score our goal”
— What did Marino Pusic pay attention to during the break?
– During the break, the coach told us that we had to play very carefully in defense – not to miss a goal. And also that we must constantly put pressure on the Dynamo defense and score. We knew that we would definitely score our goal.
— What can you say about the goal that decided the fate of the match?
— As for the goal itself, at that moment the ball was on the flank, where Neverton played well, who passed a very good pass to Zubkov, and he played very skillfully and with an accurate shot decided the fate of this match.
— Did the goal you scored affect Shakhtar’s tactics?
— A quick goal at the beginning of the second half was to our advantage. Having taken the lead, we wanted to continue playing in the opponent’s half of the field, but more carefully, with an eye on our own goal. The bill obliged us to sit a little lower and act in exactly this way.
— Do you have any complaints about the refereeing?
– No, the referee judged this game very professionally.
— When at the end of the match the referee showed you a yellow card, what were you trying to prove to him?
— I just wanted to say to Yaroslav Kozik that there was no yellow card – there was no foul on my part. On the contrary, the Dynamo player made a foul on me. And for some reason I received a yellow card, and the referee also awarded a very dangerous free kick. However, after the game Kozyk told me: “There was no foul there. Sorry I gave you the yellow one.” But this is football, both we and the referees make mistakes.
— What does this victory give you? Do you already feel like a leader?
– No no and one more time no. Because in the standings we are still far from the place we always want to be. We have one task – to win the championship. Winning all matches is the only acceptable result for us. It won’t be easy, there are still a lot of games ahead and we need to go out to every match and play one hundred percent. But if we improve with every match, this is a feasible task for Shakhtar.
“In the coming matches, Dynamo will win and take their points.”
— Who is Shakhtar’s main rival in the fight for the championship?
– Yes, of course, Dynamo. We cannot discount this team. Because this is Dynamo. I believe that in the coming matches Dynamo will win and take their points. We cannot ignore the fact that there are now many teams in our championship that have their sights set on high places. These are, first of all, “Polesie”, “Kryvbas”, “Chernomorets” – teams that demonstrate good football and results. I can also note that we have a lot of new names that we haven’t heard much about before.
— After this game, Lucescu resigned. It turns out that it was Shakhtar who removed him from his position with their victory?
– It’s none of our business. These are internal affairs of Dynamo.
— How did you find out about Lucescu’s resignation?
— Lucescu came into our locker room and said that he was finishing working at Dynamo. So he said goodbye to us. He probably said goodbye to his players before that. What can I say? Mircea Lucescu is a very good person. It is very difficult when such coaches with such qualities leave football. I wish him nothing but success.
— Sergei Rebrov watched the match from the stands. Have you ever crossed paths with him?
– No. He didn’t come into our locker room. But I think all the collections managed to communicate with him.
Alexander PETROV
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2023-11-04 12:58:00
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