“When you live in the hotel, the plane, the train and the bus instead of at home, you lose a lot of energy and concentration” – Shakhtar Donetsk coach on challenges ahead of Real Madrid clash

Ahead of their match against Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday (October 5), Shakhtar Donetsk coach Igor Jovicevic spoke about the challenges his team has faced. The Ukrainian club has gone through an unprecedented struggle, following Russia's invasion of their home country.

Speaking to AS, the head coach detailed the rigors that the playing staff and coaches had to go through with each passing day:

“Chaos sometimes organizes [laughs]. I work in a big club and we have everything planned. That said, it is a complex situation to manage, especially the emotional state of the footballers. Also tiredness. When you live in the hotel, the plane, the train and the bus instead of at home, you lose a lot of energy and concentration, it goes hand in hand."

"On the first day, a Ukrainian league match was stopped by air raid sirens and took four hours to finish. We want to be competitive but between match and match, nobody knows what we are going through.”

Shakhtar Donetsk have had to play their home matches in the Champions League at the Polish Army stadium, where they last faced Celtic in a 1-1 draw. In the return fixture game against Real Madrid next week, the Spanish giants will also play at the Warsaw-based stadium, rather than in Shakhtar Donetsk's home stadium.

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Jovicevic discusses facing Real Madrid ahead of Champions League clash

It will not be an easy outing for the Ukrainian side when they face Real Madrid, who are yet to lose a single match this season. The Madridistas have won nine games in ten, drawing just once, and they are expected to snatch all three points against Shakhtar.

Jovicevic has admitted that his side are clear underdogs in a game that Los Blancos will most certainly dominate. The Donetsk coach, who was a former Real Madrid player, said:

"We are the outsiders and we measure ourselves against the best club on the planet. If you analyze them tactically, you see mistakes where you can catch them... but they don't score goals. And if they are marked, Madrid responds with goals in pairs."

"It is such a brutal individual force that although sometimes they seem somewhat anarchic, they have so much experience that they dominate time, space. They know how to suffer and they are convinced that they are going to win."