JOVICEVIC: We’re not even thinking about Celtic. We think of Minai and respect her”

Shakhtar’s manager Igor Jovichevich He analyzed the winning match of the 8th round of UPL against Kolos (3:0):

– Shakhtar has a busy schedule and there was roster rotation today. Are you satisfied with the performance of the players?

– We have to take into account a busy schedule, but we have a fairly large list of players who can fix the problem in every match. We proceed from the competitor’s profile and then select the composition, dose substitutions and loads. All in all it was a tense match. We expected a tough match and it happened. There were problems at the beginning of the first half when everything did not go as planned. However, some adjustments at halftime helped.

We dominated the game in the second half and I think we deserved this win until the end. We can score a few more goals. The players who entered the rotation today showed up in the second half. They all felt that they were important, that it was a team that progressed step by step and fulfilled its duties. Plus, Dnipro-1 drew, which increased our confidence in the fight for first place. This is the position we want to be in, and these are the ambitions we don’t hide. To do this, we must have the right mindset, hone our skills, and work every day to get high marks. We can say that this was a very important victory, but it was won, it was tense. The opponent is strong in defense and admits a few, but we played a good game today and we deservedly won.

– When can we expect the return of Marian Shved?

– God forbid he trains with the team tomorrow. The adductor muscle no longer bothers him – this is the first day, yesterday and today, when it did not bother him even when changing the direction of movement. And that makes me happy as a coach because I understand how important he is to our team. The winger traits and offensive stage variety that are so offensive to any winger are currently lacking. The team needs such highly qualified players in every game, so we look forward to his return. I think he’ll be in the general group starting tomorrow. Let’s see if he can play against Minaj for a certain amount of time to fully prepare for Celtic.

– How do you plan to prepare the team for the Celtic game?

– You know, we must respect every opponent who opposes us. I think “Minaj” deserves full respect. Moreover, we see that they are getting good results at the moment: They played well against Dynamo. We will play away, let’s see how the field will be. And of course, after such a busy schedule, there is a certain fatigue. But as I said, champions need to have this mindset: forget everything, reflect on success and move on. So we don’t even think about Celtic – we think about Minaj, how to beat them and where we want to be, where we deserve to be and what we’re working for. First – “Minaj”, then we will consider other games.