Shakhtar's acting head coach Darijo Srna talks about the dismissal of Patrick van Leeuwen and his decision to lead the team.

– First of all, I agreed to the interview, because there are many questions for me and the club. I have not given any comment anywhere, so I would like to clarify this situation a bit. Patrick’s invitation was due to the fact that he showed very beautiful, spectacular football at Zorya – he fought for the title until the last two rounds, qualified for the Conference League and gave a very good result. And he led himself to Shakhtar with his quality of play and results.

Of course, we knew that every coach would have a hard time at Shakhtar at first. Fonseca, Castro, Jovicevic and De Zerbi went through this – they all had some difficulties, and we always met them halfway and helped them. We knew from the beginning of the pre-season, that the internationals returned to Patrick a little later after the European U21 Championship, there were injured players: Sudakov had a surgery right away, Stepanenko had a knee injury. That is why we went through a very difficult time, had patience, gave support, as we do for every Shakhtar coach. But the day has come when we have to speak honestly and openly, to be upfront and fair to our fans, which, unfortunately, we did not manage to do. We failed to play the kind of football that the fans, the club president and all of us need. We could not find a way to play Shakhtar’s football. And I can only thank Patrick and the coaching staff for a good work, but we decided to take a different approach. We wish him all the best, success and great competitive results.

As for me, Shakhtar is my club and my family. Truth be told, I could have become Shakhtar coach even earlier. But I am a person who trusts others, and I always want to help every coach with their work. And I want to say from my experience that every Shakhtar team made the coach very strong. They all came here and went to top clubs after Shakhtar being different people. There is the work of the club, the team and the coach – when this triangle exists, there will be success.

Today I accepted Shakhtar, because they are my family. When the family has a hard time, you have to help. So, I was not afraid to take the team even before such games and try to do everything I can. I told them yesterday that I am not Guardiola, I am not Klopp, I am Darijo Srna, who does not have much experience in coaching, but I have miner’s heart. Miner’s heart, which is very important for everyone. And this heart told me that I need to help the team today. In such a difficult situation for the country, for Shakhtar, I could not refuse and told the president that I am all for it.

Two rounds ago, the president offered me to immediately take over the team, become the head coach, sign a contract, and choose the coaching staff. And he said that he was ready to suffer with me. And I told him, “President, I love this club and I assure you that today I want to bring you a coach who is stronger than me, who is currently better than me, more experienced than me and who can give the team more at the moment.” I put the club before myself, and there is no other way. I put the club before myself because no one can be above the club. My ambitions cannot be higher than the club’s ambitions. That is why I spoke briefly about the situation that happened in the last two weeks.

As for the new coach, I assure the president every day, together with CEO Palkin, that this is the right choice. And he fully trusts me. And we are negotiating. And I hope that this coach wants to join us.