Shakhtar boss Fonseca's Braga reunion

Barely six months ago, Paulo Fonseca was leading Braga against Shakhtar in the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals. Now, having replaced Mircea Lucescu as the Pitmen's coach, he is preparing for a reunion with his old club on Thursday. The 43-year-old tells UEFA.com he will be striving to do a professional job as he bids to make an impression in his first foreign posting.

UEFA.com: How did you feel when you saw Braga had been drawn in Shakhtar's group?

Paulo Fonseca: I didn't want Braga for a very simple reason – it's a club where I have a lot of friends, a city that cared for me, and where we won a major trophy [the 2015/16 Portuguese Cup]. But now they're opponents, and I have to see them that way. I want to beat Braga as much as I want to beat any other club. I honestly hope I'll be welcomed [when I return to Braga with Shakhtar on matchday six], but it’s really hard to describe how I'll feel, because it's something I've never had to deal with. I just hope I'll be happy at the end of the match, with a win for Shakhtar.

UEFA.com: How would you compare the two clubs?

Fonseca: They're clubs with very different goals and different budgets. Braga are the fourth club in Portugal, and there's a gulf in terms of investment compared with the big three, meaning Braga cannot compete. But Shakhtar are a club who play to win trophies. That's the main difference.

UEFA.com: What made you decide to move to Shakhtar?

Fonseca: I wanted to work abroad, and this was the ideal moment after winning the Portuguese Cup with Braga. I'm a very positive person and not afraid to take chances. I thought Shakhtar was a great challenge, so I didn't think twice about accepting it. Mircea Lucescu was here for 12 years and had a really successful spell, and when there's a change it's normal that people have questions and doubts. Coaches have to deal with that. You just have to get on with your job.

UEFA.com: Has it been easy to settle in?

Fonseca: The people here have been amazing and really welcomed me. It's the first time I've worked abroad and there's a completely different culture with its own ideas about football. The main difficulty is getting our ideas across, because we have a different vision. My philosophy is to control and dominate the game. We need to have the ball. And that's happened in every game. We're an attacking team – a team that's always in the opposition half.

Fonseca's coaching mentor, Jorge Jesus©AFP/Getty Images

There's a coach in Portugal who I worked with and learned a lot from, and that’s Jorge Jesus. And there are other coaches who I learn from by watching their teams play: Josep Guardiola, and some other Portuguese coaches José Mourinho, Vítor Pereira, André Villas-Boas and Leonardo Jardím. But I’m not a replica of anyone else – I have my own ideas.

UEFA.com: Shakhtar reached the semi-finals last season. Can you go one better this time?

Fonseca: We want to go all the way, but I'm a realist and I don't make promises. The Europa League is like a mini-Champions League – there are such strong teams that it's impossible to make promises, but I can promise that we will be aiming to win every game. I would really like to get to a final, and I believe one day it will happen. I don't know when, but one day I will be in a final.