Vladyslav Zakharchenko: «We had good chances and could have scored more»

The scorer of the only goal in Dynamo Kyiv U19’s UEFA Youth League match against Brommapojkarna central defender Vladyslav Zakharchenko shared his emotions after the game.

– Of course it feels great to win. It was a tough match especially after that red card in the 30th minute. But we understood that if we stuck to our game plan and tactics we could win, hold out and keep them from scoring.

– You’re one of the players born in 2006 who were included in the squad. At the same time you already train with and have debuted for Dynamo’s first team. How much did that experience help you today in the Youth League?

– That experience definitely gives you more confidence which is very important in football. When you train with the first team you start thinking faster and making better decisions. So yes, that experience helped me a lot when I came here to help the guys today.

– You faced a Scandinavian team – tall, physically strong players. Yet the only goal came from a header…

– It doesn’t matter what kind of opponents they are. There was just a great cross and I happened to be in the right place at the right time to score.

– What was the halftime message considering the team had to play with ten men?

– We didn’t really change our tactics for the second half, it stayed mostly the same. We played from a low block and had some very good moments when we won the ball and broke out on the counterattack. We could have scored more honestly.

I want to thank the boys – everyone gave their all on the pitch. We had to play more without the ball after the sending-off but that didn’t stop us. We defended well.

– The return leg is still ahead. The score is 1:0 – a narrow advantage – and the match in Stockholm will be played on artificial turf. Could that give the opponent an advantage?

– The pitch and the ball are the same for everyone. I don’t think it will make a difference. We’ll prepare to play on artificial turf and I believe nothing will really change for us.

– There was noticeable support for Dynamo today…

– It’s always great when your team gets support – it gives you extra motivation and emotions. It’s amazing that even when we play outside Ukraine, children still come and cheer for us. It really means a lot.