Dynamo Kyiv defender Taras Mykhavko shared his impressions after the home match of the 3rd round of the UEFA Conference League main stage against the Bosnian team Zrinjski in which the “White-Blues” claimed a resounding 6:0 victory:
– Any win is important – both for the team and for Ukraine. First of all I want to thank all our fans for their support at the stadium and those who watched the match on TV. I also want to thank the Armed Forces of Ukraine for giving us the opportunity to represent our country on the international stage.
What can I say about the victory? I’m satisfied as is the whole team. Today we’ll think a bit more about this game but tomorrow we’ll start direct preparation for our next league match because a very important game against LNZ awaits us – as, in fact, every match is important. Today we can celebrate a little but tomorrow it’s back to work.
– In your opinion did everything work for you on the pitch today, given how active the team was from the very start and scored early on?
– Yes, thank God, everything went our way. We could have scored even more but the main thing is that we won, didn’t concede a single goal and scored six. Everyone is satisfied but, as I said, starting tomorrow we’ll be preparing for the next league match.
– What was the team’s mindset going into the second half with a 1:0 lead? What helped you score three quick goals early in the second half?
– The plan was not to slow down, not to drop the tempo, not to sit back in defense and to keep playing our football just like in the first half. We came out motivated to score more – and we didn’t stop. Luckily we managed to score five goals in the second half so the result is great.
– You played again as a left-back. Is that position already familiar to you? Have you fully adapted to it?
– As I’ve said before, it doesn’t matter to me whether I play on the left or in the center of defense – I’ve played both roles. Of course I’m more used to being a central defender but again it doesn’t really matter.
– You join the attack during set pieces and corner kicks as you did when playing in central defense. Today Dynamo scored twice from set pieces. How much do you work on that and how important is it to the team’s play?
– We work a lot on set pieces during training. It’s a very important part of modern football. We dedicate a lot of time to it as well as to our tactical movements overall. And clearly it’s paying off.
– Does it feel like the team has returned to a winning path and is regaining its optimal form after a difficult run?
– I wouldn’t say this is our peak form yet. Yes, we had some poor results – we’re aware of that. There was criticism which we understood and accepted calmly because we were going through a tough period. The team didn’t deserve that much hate. But of course every player and every coach in our staff wants to win. So maybe after this match we’ll finally step into a positive winning phase again.
