Kiev tie a good enough gift for Srna
Friday, May 1, 2009
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Darijo Srna had hoped for a more positive result to mark turning 27 than the 1-1 draw FC Shakhtar Donetsk earned at FC Dynamo Kyiv, revealing: "With my birthday in mind I wanted to win 1-0 but 1-1 isn't a bad present."
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Quiet contentment summed up FC Shakhtar Donetsk's mood after overcoming some early stage fright on their UEFA Cup semi-final debut to claim a 1-1 draw away to FC Dynamo Kyiv, their captain Darijo Srna conceding it was not "a bad present" on the eve of his 27th birthday.
Milevskiy threat
Having never previously graced the last four of a European competition, Shakhtar began nervously at the Valeriy Lobanovskiy Stadium, coach Mircea Lucescu admitting his players were "burdened by the importance of the occasion". They soon fell behind, Dmytro Chygrynskiy putting through his own net under pressure from Ukrainian international team-mate Artem Milevskiy, though the centre-back conceded there was little he could do as "there were a few ricochets and the ball just went in". He added: "It was difficult to play up against Milevskiy; he's very skilful, has good technique and a lot of what he does is second nature, so quick."
'Overrun'
But for a niggling injury the Dynamo forward might have inflicted more damage, though Chygrynskiy and Srna each highlighted the half-time team talk as the real turning point. "In the first half we made a lot of mistakes and had huge problems with simple passing from the back, so we couldn't get attacks launched; that all changed in the second half," said Chygrynskiy. Srna added: "In the first half Dynamo overran us completely but after the half-time team talk we changed our play, got possession and controlled the game better, organising better attacks. It was no surprise when we scored."
Shakhtar goal
The equaliser, conjured up when lively substitute Willian pierced the Dynamo back line and drove the ball across goal for Fernandinho to turn in, means Shakhtar have a narrow away-goal advantage to take into next Thursday's return, a fact not lost on Srna. "Personally, I feel we can play much, much better," said the Shakhtar skipper. "With my birthday in mind I wanted to win 1-0 but 1-1 isn't a bad present. We did what we had to, we scored, and now Dynamo need to start thinking about how they will score in Donetsk."