The White-Blues said goodbye to the European Cups with a minimal victory over the Latvian club.
Head coach of Dynamo Kyiv Alexander Shovkovskycommented on the victory (1:0) over the Latvian RFS in the match of the last round of the main stage of the Europa League season 2024/25.
The answers of the “white-blues” coach to journalists' questions are given on the official website of “Dynamo”.
It should be noted that “Dynamo” with 4 points finished in 34th place in the overall standings of the main round of the Europa League. After the sixth round, the “white-blues” lost their chances of reaching the playoffs.
– The last time Dynamo won in the group stage of the European Cups was in 2020 against Ferencvaros, also with a score of 1:0. Five years have passed since then, and they have not managed to win for 20 matches. What does this victory mean to you?
– A win is always a win. But let’s be honest, we weren’t counting on this result when we started the main stage matches of the Europa League. Unfortunately, things turned out the way they did. We analyzed and will analyze every game, and in doing so, we never get attached to the result. I’ll explain why. Because the result can have a positive or negative impact on the analysis. And in such a case, emotions don’t always help to correctly and properly consider certain football aspects and moments.
Today's game was of no importance in terms of the result for the tournament table. But in terms of the image and preserving the face of the team, it was of great importance for us, for Dynamo. So, of course, we are satisfied. Although the quality of the pitch… it was the worst pitch we have ever played on.
– Dynamo played two Europa League matches in January, and achieved positive results in both. Did better logistics affect this?
– Of course, no matter what anyone says, logistics always matter, especially when you are specifically preparing for a specific opponent. This was confirmed by the results and circumstances in which we prepared for these two matches.
– Why was Alexander Karavaev not included in the game roster?
– Today we couldn’t count on Brazhko, Karavaev, Dubinchik, Shaparenko, who missed the match due to an accumulation of yellow cards, and, besides, he also fell ill. There is a virus in the team, so we couldn’t count on these players. Let’s add to this list Buyalsky, who was injured in the match with Galatasaray. We didn’t force his rehabilitation, we decided to take care of him, to keep him from playing so that he could prepare for the second part of the season. And the same goes for Denis Popov.
– Did you feel the support of the fans?
– We thank them. Of course, it is always nice to play in front of a packed stadium, and our players felt it in Istanbul. It is very important to have support. But you must understand that if we give in to emotions on the football field, it will not lead to anything good. The fans support the team, they set the pace, they express their dissatisfaction when the team does not play as it should. But we must understand that there is a certain structure of the game, organization, practice. And we must adhere to them, we must be consistent in our actions.
And additional support gives players motivation, strength to show their best qualities. We must run forward, but we must maintain a certain organization. Because when we attack, we must also think about defense. And when we defend, we must position ourselves in such a way that we are ready to quickly move to attack.
– Dynamo will play its next official match in almost a month, how ready is the team for the second part of the season, and how will further preparations proceed? Has it changed in connection with the Europa League matches?
– Indeed, we are now in a new reality, because we have never played official matches in January. And at the end of February, there were already matches, at this time the spring part of the Ukrainian championship begins and European Cup matches were also played at this time. I would say that we have completed the first stage of our preparation and now we will give the guys a little rest. This is necessary for them to reboot, and also to communicate less with each other, and not to spread the virus.
From February 4, we will begin targeted preparation for the spring stage. It will consist of a training process and friendly matches
Recall that in the updated format of the Europa League, 36 clubs played in a single league, where they played against eight different opponents (four home matches and four away). All participants in the tournament received 2 opponents from 4 different baskets.
The eight best teams of the main stage of the Europa League reached the 1/8 finals. The clubs ranked 9th to 24th in the overall standings will play paired play-off matches for a spot in the 1/8 finals. The rest have finished their European competitions.
The draw for the Europa League play-off matches will take place on January 31. The first matches of this stage will be played on February 13, and the return matches on February 20.