Shakhtar Donetsk coach Luis Castro looks forward to the ‘most important match’ in his career and hopes to ‘stop Inter and Romelu Lukaku with the perfect strategy’.
The Ukrainians prepare for the semi-final against Inter in the Europa League, and former FC Porto coach Castro admitted it will be his biggest task as a coach.
“Even if I played a quarter-final in the Europa League with Porto, against Sevilla in 2014, I will say that this is the most important match of my career,” Castro told Marca.
Shakhtar Donetsk coach Luis Castro looks forward to the ‘most important match’ in his career and hopes to ‘stop Inter and Romelu Lukaku with the perfect strategy’.
The Ukrainians prepare for the semi-final against Inter in the Europa League, and former FC Porto coach Castro admitted it will be his biggest task as a coach.
“Even if I played a quarter-final in the Europa League with Porto, against Sevilla in 2014, I will say that this is the most important match of my career,” Castro told Marca.
The Portuguese 58-year-old praised the Nerazzurri coach Antonio Conte ahead of tonight’s big game.
“He has always had very well built and balanced teams, both in attack and defence,” Castro added. “That’s what’s happening at Inter right now. They have returned looking well after the pandemic.”
Despite being labelled as underdogs, Castro believes Shakhtar have a chance to win a place in the Final.
“The game is played on the pitch, not at the bookies. Football is a business,” he said. “But for us, it’s not like that, because for us the only thing that matters are us and the opponents.
“If others think Inter are the favourites, that’s OK, then they are the favourites. But we never feel inferior to anyone.
“We played 11 games in Europe this season, between the Champions League and the Europa League, and we only lost two games, against [Manchester] City and Atalanta.
“Both games were at home. Away, we haven’t lost yet.”
Romelu Lukaku has scored in nine consecutive games and Castro aims to stop the Belgium international and Inter with the ‘perfect strategy’.
“We have to adopt the perfect strategy to stop him and that’s a task for the whole team, not just a single player.
“We must stop Inter and that includes stopping Lukaku.”