Jovicevic: God rewarded Shakhtar for such energy and character

Shakhtar head coach Igor Jovicevic shared his thoughts regarding match against Celtic (1-1).

– It was a difficult match. I assure you that every team would have difficulties with current Celtic. This is the best Celtic during the last 20 years, with excellent coach and very dynamic players who perform fast dribbling after giving away the ball. The team with aggressive pressing not allowing to “recover your breath” at all. If you saw, they should have scored 4 goals in the first match against Real Madrid. They lost 0-3, but Celtic surpassed Real by chances and play to the 60th minute. So we cannot talk here about accident, we prepared very seriously. They have more experience, they have an international squad with expensive players, they were favourites. We knew that the match beginning would be aggressive and it was very important for us to withstand this moment. But they scored. They felt support of their fans who were pushing them and giving them energy all the time. But there is one thing that is very important for us, for our team that is young, talented, disciplined and strong-willed. It is when you concede you return to the play, return to the match. And we should be proud, this is important for young boys, that you took the ball again, controlled it and got back in the game. And after we scored, we could have scored more: there was one centimetre offside, but we had the feeling that we were playing at least on the same level, as we had the ball and could think. And their pressing wasn’t so successful, because we were confident. In the second half, of course, they dictated the play. There were some forced substitutions, but every player used by the opponent was even more expensive. So this is a great experience for us. I think that we did not allow the opponent to create many chances. We knew for whom we were playing: we understand that people supported us in the stands, gave us impulse, plus 40 million of Ukrainians staying in their country, who watched our match and gave us energy. So we can say that this point is an excellent result. And not only because we got a point, but also because we took 3 points from Celtic. This can be important, because you never know what is next. We can be proud that the team demonstrated a character, fought till the end and implemented the impossible. We made the things, which everyone thought to be impossible against RB Leipzig, possible. This is the hardest when you endure, so you must think only about the impossible things. And if you cannot win, try not to lose. And, after all, God will reward you for such energy and character.

– You mentioned the atmosphere in the stands, how do you feel in Warsaw? Can say that you feel here at home?
– I cannot say that, because we have been here only for two days and didn’t even see the city. I hope that after a break for national teams, after weekend we will return here in Warsaw and will be able to get more acquainted with the city. We will prepare here for our next match in the Ukrainian championship. But we are grateful to Legia Warsaw for the possibility to train in optimum conditions at their training centre. And Warsaw is a very beautiful place. That's out of the question. This is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. And we want to thank the fans who visited the stadium today. We felt their support very much, they were just brining us forward. And there even were some moments when we didn’t feel exhaustion, we just were connected with the stands and flied along the filed. So I want to thank everyone who was at the stadium today one more time. We will return to Warsaw after the break.

– You will have to face Real Madrid in a few weeks. How do you prepare for matches with such difficult opponent?
– First of all, I want to rest after these two matches and intense physical and emotional loads. We will certainly start to prepare for Real closer to the game both tactically and within the team. Everything is possible in one match. One match can be always won by non-favourite team. And they shall prove that they are the best on that day. They are really a favourite team, the best club in the world. It was an honour for me to play for this club for five years (1991-1996). This club made me better as a person. I am very grateful to many people, who work there now, who have played together with me back then. It will be a great challenge, good memories to play with Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu where I have played as a footballer. There are many such components that I proud of. But we still have some time before this moment: we want to recover, rest, receive new emotions and then to play successfully against the best club in the world.