Lucescu thrilled with Shakhtar´s ´perfect discipline´

Shakhtar Donetsk head coach Mircea Lucescu hailed his team’s discipline and focus after their 2-0 win at Real Sociedad on Tuesday.

Alex Teixeira struck a second-half brace to lead the Ukrainian Premier League champions to an important away win in the UEFA Champions League Group A clash.

Lucescu praised his team for their efforts and said it was a crucial victory after his side’s poor league form, heading into the match.

“Tactically, we were really well organised. We had studied Real Sociedad pretty well and my advice to the players was to keep disciplined and focused. I am glad they obeyed these instructions,” the 68-year-old said.

“When teams have perfect discipline then individual skills make the difference as you saw tonight. In this area we have an advantage as Shakhtar have many talented players.

“Let’s not forget that we played at Real Sociedad after three poor results (two defeats and a draw) in the Ukrainian league. That’s why it was very important to recover confidence in ourselves.”

Lucescu said he instructed his team to take more chances after the interval following Sociedad’s failure to open the scoring in the first half.

“In the first half we decided not to take risks, but at the interval we realised we could win, so in the second half we started to play more intensive football,” Lucescu said.

“We were making more interceptions and my players were using their pace much better than before the break.

“We won the battle in the middle of the park and got the result. In my opinion, Real created opportunities only via free-kicks and corners.”