Lucescu: Shakhtar bridged Bayern gap
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Article summary
Mircea Lucescu praised FC Shakhtar Donetsk's efforts in holding FC Bayern München to a draw in Ukraine, saying: "The difference between the teams is great."
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Article body
• Mircea Lucescu "satisfied" after Shakhtar hold Bayern in first leg
•Xabi Alonso sent off as match in Lviv ends goalless
• Josep Guardiola says visitors kept Ukrainian champions "under control"
• Shakhtar's first game since matchday six draw with Porto
• Second leg is on 11 March at the Fußball Arena München
Mircea Lucescu, Shakhtar coach
I'm satisfied with our performance and the result. We had our last competitive game two and a half months ago and we looked fine tonight. We still have a chance. Unfortunately, we were not able to play our game even when Xabi Alonso was sent off. We couldn't gain enough possession and made a few mistakes. We are far from our best form, of course. This is a problem for us but we have time to change it.
Bayern have their style and it's very important that we were able to close down their attackers. It was a first competitive game for us this year. Bayern have lots of experienced players while we have many young ones. The difference is so great and it's amazing that our players managed to stand firm against such quality opponents.
Josep Guardiola, Bayern coach
It was a very good match today. We created a few scoring opportunities and made sure that our opponents were unable to create any dangerous situations near our goal. We were able to keep Alex Teixeira, Taison and Douglas Costa under control and I am very happy with this.
Thomas Müller and Arjen Robben both had chances and if they had taken them, we would have won. However, we now need to win in Munich to progress in the competition.
I know Shakhtar well as I have come up against them a few times as FC Barcelona coach. The players have changed but the style remains the same. Then they had Fernandinho, Brandão, Jadson and [Dmytro] Chygrynskiy. Now they have other players but play in the same way. The main thing for us is to analyse today's match and make the right changes ahead of the return.