Shakhtar coach: It's not a shame to lose to a great team

Shakhtar head coach Igor Jovicevic speaks on the match against Leipzig and getting into the Europa League.

– What did you say after the match to your players when everyone stood in a circle on the field?
– Heads up! I told them to keep their heads up. Because we played six matches in the Champions League: yes, we lost today, but there were six good matches. And today we gained experience, we became better. Leipzig are a great team, and it's not a shame to lose to them. It shapes us. We did everything we could. Our team have already beaten Leipzig once, and if we did it for the second time, we could say that we are world champions. This is a new project, new team, young boys. We have been working for three and a half months and have achieved a lot, have done an incredible job! We look at ourselves now and see that we became better than we had been at the beginning of the journey. We entered the Europa League participated by many great teams. Barcelona and Ajax will play in the Europa League, while Atletico Madrid have failed to get there. We appreciate what we achieved. And congratulations to Leipzig. They're a great team and Marco Rose is a top coach. We have to look ahead, keep our heads up and work.

– How do you assess the Europa League after playing in the Champions League?
– I don't know what it's like to play in the Europa League. I don't have that experience. It will be the first appearance in the tournament for me, as it was in the Champions League. However, considering it’s the first experience I think it’s not bad. We showed our strength, we showed ourselves perfectly in the first match with Leipzig, when the opponent had not yet gained his strength. We combined our character and talent together, we were able to score 6 points – and this, I think, is not so bad. Today's game was a good experience for us. There is a big challenge ahead – the Europa League. We regard this as a chance. There are a lot of good teams playing there. We have time to prepare; there will be a winter break. So we’re about to see. In any case, it's an interesting challenge.

– How difficult was it for you to prepare for this game?
– We have a war going on. It is difficult to prepare in a situation where there is a war, when you cannot conduct training, and you also have to think about how to tactically approach the match. That’s difficult. It's a matter of politics and sports. We are now completely dependent on the political situation. Of course, we would be willing to play in Ukraine but the situation is difficult. Training takes place with constant air raid alerts. What is now heard on the street is football, emotions. And the game was equally great despite the fact that we were on the road for 12 hours. It's very tiring. However, our team played while many other teams did not make it to the Champions League, even having no such difficulties.

– Can you analyze the game? How much has the opponent changed compared to the first match?
– Of course, they are a completely different team. They are now more confident because they were satisfied with both victory and draw. Leipzig is a high-speed team, dangerous in counterattacks, making good use of space. The second goal completely closed the game. After that, we went all-in and missed more.

– The season turned out to be very bright, Shakhtar inspired many Ukrainians with their game. What do you remember most about this Champions League?
– We knew exactly who we were playing for. We have been saying this since the first match and keep repeating it today because we feel the energy of the fans through individual messages, through social networks, from people who protect Ukraine. This is a huge number of fans who love football and defend the country. And we wanted to thank them by means of our fight, to give our best so that they would be satisfied with the result and at least for a moment forget about their problems. And we succeeded: our energy grew with each match, we really did incredible things. When you play for the first time in the Champions League against teams that have four to five times the budget, which have more experience, but you act so confidently, it's incredible. Today's result also allows us to appreciate what we have done. We may be sad but we cannot lower our heads. We should be proud. More solid and experienced clubs would not even make it to the Europa League under such conditions. Many teams did not enter anything. Therefore, Ukraine can be proud of us, just as we are proud of our compatriots. So let's move on. Let's take a break from this cycle, forget the Champions League and prepare for the Europa League in February. There are five more matches of the Ukrainian championship ahead, where we strive to bypass Dnipro-1, who are heading in first place.