Shakhtar Donetsk manager Igor Jovicevic identifies Celtic as a threat in a pre-match press conference, reported by Shakhtar.com. The Ukrainian Champions play Celtic in Warsaw tomorrow evening, and their gaffer is well aware of the danger Celtic pose to his side’s Champions League hopes.
And Jovicevic also admitted that the former Celtic winger, Shved won’t be able to give much insight into his old club because Ange Postecoglou has changed the Celtic squad so drastically. “Marian could not help much, because Celtic have changed a lot since Shved played for them. Now we are talking about a new team, which with a new head coach got a great result in the Scottish Premiership.
“They look convincing. They play dynamic, aggressive, combination football of an attacking type. Tomorrow it will be difficult for us to resist in terms of desire, dynamics and fight but we cannot give in,” Igor Jovicevic said.
“Tomorrow we will play an opponent who is in excellent form. I think there are several options to win this match, both with the ball and without the ball. In the last match against Chornomorets, we had the ball 70% of the time, but we didn’t score three or four goals, and there were difficulties. And in the game with Leipzig, the possession was 39%; however, we played a frantic game and took advantage of the space.”
How Shakhtar prepare for the game vs Celtic 👊🏻
Final training session in Warsaw before the @ChampionsLeague match.#ShakhtarCeltic #Shakhtar #UCL pic.twitter.com/q0990ljWc8
— FC SHAKHTAR ENGLISH (@FCShakhtar_eng) September 13, 2022
“The question is what we do and how effectively we do it when we have the ball. I repeat: we expect a difficult match, but we want to have fun and convince ourselves that we can play at the same level as against Leipzig. The squad has a good atmosphere. Everyone is ready for tomorrow’s match, but for everything to end positively, many factors need to coincide. We are ready.”
Tomorrow’s game will be an important game for both sides in terms of their Champions League ambitions.
An in-from Celtic squad coming from a 3-0 defeat against Real Madrid, and a Shakhtar team who thrashed the German side RB Leipzig 4-1 last week. It certainly looks like having the hallmarks of an entertaining evening of Champions League football. Hopefully, Celtic will have regained their cutting edge and aren’t rusty after the weekend rest, to take their chances.
🇺🇦🤝🇵🇱 Poland, we need your support 🧡⚒
🔜 @ChampionsLeague 📅 September 14 ⏰ 19:45 (18:45 CET)
📍 Stadion Wojska Polskiego, Warsaw🎟 https://t.co/UvcQu3E9SB#ShakhtarCeltic #Shakhtar #UCL pic.twitter.com/HSW7Kr5kyz
— FC SHAKHTAR ENGLISH (@FCShakhtar_eng) September 13, 2022
Shakhtar are in Warsaw!
👀 Attention to the @ChampionsLeague match vs Celtic!#ShakhtarCeltic | #Shakhtar #UCL pic.twitter.com/L5275LUPFo
— FC SHAKHTAR ENGLISH (@FCShakhtar_eng) September 12, 2022