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In an interview with FC Shakhtar Press Office, Shakhtar midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan shared his take on the Pitmen’s first spring meeting.

- Henrikh, many experts predicted that Shakhtar would have an easy win today. Do you agree that everything turned out just like that?

- I do not agree, because we were well aware that our opponents would fight, trying to cause us problems. All in all, so it happened. But we managed to score two quick goals that helped - by the 15th minute the score was 2-0. But after that, the sides relaxed. We started to play complacently and conceded a goal early in the second half. It’s good that we could compose ourselves again, scored two more and emerged victorious.

- Did the missed goal charge Shakhtar up or brought confusion, because the score got quite slippery?

- Yes, it got more dangerous after we’d conceded. Everyone understood that we couldn’t make an error. We wantd to score more asap to ease the game.

- When you reviewed Volyn before the match, did you expect this very kind of performace from the Lutsk side?

- We expected pretty much this kind of football from them. We faced a good team, they fought on the pitch, trying to win instead of coming to Donetsk to just fight back.

- Still, can it be assumed that the two early goals were the key to your success?

- I can agree. We probably just didn’t need to score the second goal that soon for the team to continue with focus on controlling the game. But I think that everything turned out fine in the end.