Arda Turan, FC Shakhtar Donetsk Photo 03 October 2025, 08:20

The day before, Shakhtar Donetsk beat Scottish Aberdeen in the guest match of the first round of the UEFA Conference League.

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After the game was completed, the head coach of the Miners Arda Turan commented on the performance of his own team.

“We have already similar matches before. For example, we have scored goals against Besiktas after 30-50 gears within one attack. The pasture game is always important to us, but it is also important how these gears are happening.

We control the game, but we do not like static broadcasts, we strive that they are accompanied by dribbling that cuts off the opponent.

As for Marlon Gomez, he has a very good play profile and character traits. He is a wonderful football player capable of acting in any position. His game was very pleased.

I would also like to mention Lucas Ferreyr, who first came out in the starting lineup and scored the goal. It also pleases us.

As for the status of the favorite in this tournament, Shakhtar in culture is always competitive in Europe. At the same time, we are a young and new team, we try to learn at every level and gain experience. Therefore, I think it is logical to look at everything step by step.

Of course, the conference league inspires us a lot, and our biggest dream here is to play matches in which the word “finale” is named.

At the end of the first half, we had 70% of the ball ownership, but this did not correspond to our philosophy, because we usually have a decision against the opponent’s pressing. What we did was ineffective because they could not bring the free player with the ball to find the third in the triangle. In the first half, we failed to realize our philosophy as I wanted.

When you play against organized defense in this way, the opponent is easier to defend himself, because our attacking football players went very early with the central defenders, and this facilitates the opponent’s defense. We want to use dribbling when there is space to easily find a free player.

We could move forward in the second half. That is, we strive to act equally during the advantage and, while lagging in the account, at the same time we need to remain realist.

For example, when an opponent applies a game one or a pressing 10 to 10, we have an option that we call a long transmission, not a shot behind the back of defense. We have all the types of plans, but why are they needed? Because football is a game with a large proportion of improvisation, it is a game one in one, and we try to control it as much as possible. If you ask if it was easy to implement our philosophy on the field – no, but I think we were able to do it partially, ” – said Turkish specialist.

In the next round, Donetsk Shakhtar will accept the Polish lungs.