It appears that the Tuesday after-match press conference was one of the most difficult for Donetsk Shakhtar coach Mirche Luchesku, according to “Shakhtar” FC press-service. Nevertheless, the coach shared his view on the final match (Shakhtar-Benfica 1:2).
“Unfortunately, once again we made two “gifts” to the rival. Maybe, we are not at that level, which is necessary for the Champions League... I reiterate, making such “gifts”, as we were making in the last two games, it is difficult to become the winner. In Glasgo, as well as today. I see two variants in this situation: either I’m not a coach for the Champions League, or the whole team of players does not correspond to the required level. In both cases, something must be done, changed. Of course, I’m responsible for the developments”.
The Shakhtar coach praised the devotion of the Portuguese: “Today Benfica indicated how aggressively you should play in the Champions league. Namely this way should a team play,, if it aspires to quit the group. We were trying to play only at the expense of technique, but this is not enough for such a level. We lost really easy balls, we were not confident of our forces, played slowly, and all our decisions were read by the rival without any efforts. However, even in this situation, there were some good half-moments, not bad flank passes. If we had played with a bigger persistence near the rival’s goal, we, probably, could have kicked the ball.
Luchesku was not very eager to answer which exactly positions in “Shakhtar” must be urgently strengthened. “I would not like to answer this question. Nevertheless, the level of “Shakhtar” has grown during the last years”.
