Dynamo Kyiv defender Oleksandr Karavaiev shared his thoughts after the Ukrainian Premier League defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk (1:3).
– Obviously, the emotions are negative. In the opening minutes the game didn’t go according to our plan. We conceded an unnecessary goal from a set piece – lost concentration and didn’t work properly in defense. We’ll analyze it to make sure such things don’t happen again in future matches. It happens – nothing catastrophic.
When the score became 2:0 we threw everything forward. We pulled one back, created more chances but our finishing let us down a bit. We’ll keep going – there are still many matches ahead so the whole battle is still in front of us.
– Oleksandr Shovkovskyi mentioned earlier that it’s important not to start a match as if you’re already losing. Was today’s early goal a surprise – was it a lack of focus or just a failed defensive setup?
– I wouldn’t say that. We came out fully motivated and ready. But we didn’t do our job well enough during that set piece – the delivery from the corner was very good. We’ll review the situation and draw the right conclusions for the future.
– The match was very emotional and intense, yet there were only three yellow cards in total...
– In general we don’t have any particular complaints about the referee. He handled the game at a high level and kept things under control.
– Still there was a controversial moment at 2:1 when Bondar pushed Ogundana in the back inside the penalty area…
– Personally I haven’t reviewed that episode yet. But from my position it looked like there was a foul and a penalty should have been given. However there’s a referee and there’s VAR – they’re the ones responsible for checking such incidents. If they decided there was no penalty, then that’s their call.
– The gap from Shakhtar in the standings has widened again. What’s the team’s mindset now especially with a tough schedule ahead – the Conference League and the domestic championship?
– First of all we’re to blame for the points we lost earlier in the season. But we’re not giving up – we’ll keep working hard and approach every match as if it’s our last. We’ve got nothing to lose now and since we’re already behind we’ll be doing everything we can to catch up with the current leaders.
