View from the Opposition: Arda Turan on areas Shakhtar will improve from first leg

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6 May 2026

Shakhtar Donetsk head coach Arda Turan described the task which awaits his side at Selhurst Park as "almost impossible" – but also declared that he and his players will fight for every opportunity they have to reach the UEFA Conference League Final.

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Turan: You should pursue your belief

Presenting a jovial figure at his pre-match press conference at Selhurst Park on the eve of Shakhtar's semi-final second leg with Crystal Palace, former Atlético Madrid and Turkey legend Turan – who has guided his team to the semi-finals in his debut season in charge – spoke of how he and his team carry hope of overturning their first-leg deficit.

At the start of his press conference, speaking unprompted, Turan addressed the European media by stating: "It is not an easy game that awaits us. It will be difficult to go to the final with the position we are in after the first game – but if you have hope or belief, even at the lowest level, you should go after it, and we know that it is possible.

"We will face an excellent opponent. They are loyal to their system, they have a very good coach – I can say that they are a proper coach's team – and I said before as well, I am satisfied with the level of play we had on the first game. We will just be working on the details.

"No matter the result of the round, we will have positive takeaways from this encounter. We are a team that could be in the league phase of the Champions League in two or three months and we have a dream of going to the UEFA Conference League final, so we will not give up on it, because it will help us greatly to build the future's team and to reach our dreams in Europe.

"And if we are not succeeding in it, I will still be proud of my team, because they were able to bring European games to the maximum extent possible to the Ukrainian people and to our fans."

Turan spoke about his previous experiences as a La Liga-winning player under Diego Simeone, when he was part of the 2013/14 Atletico team which toppled mighty Real Madrid and Barcelona to win the domestic title.

"First of all, when we first arrived, there were talks about the team that there were separate groups of Brazilians and Ukrainians," Turan recalled.

"But I said, if we are seeing each other more than our families, children, then I don't need a starting eleven – I need a team as a whole. And I told them at the end of the season, all of you will have played 25-30 games when you look at the teamsheets.

"I told them they should know how valuable it was to fight for each other. And now, when you think about it, Gabi, Tiago, Koke, Juanfran, Arda, maybe these players were not special individually when we first started our journey in Atletico Madrid.

"You cannot carry everything you have as a player to when you are a coach. But you can carry your learnings and experience. So this team of Atletico Madrid, back then, they faced Messi, Suarez, Neymar, Barcelona and Real Madrid with stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Higuain and Gareth Bale later. They made history winning the La Liga title against two such teams.

"I told the players, if you can fight, you can go till the end, you can succeed in anything. You cannot always play well, but there is no excuse for not fighting well all the time.

"And I don't want to repeat what I have always been saying about Ukrainian people, but if people are bombed in the night and they can go to school or work in the morning, we can have no excuse about football."

Quote Icons

In the first game we were checkmated. I can only try to equalise in the second game
—Arda Turan on Palace

Turan also noted how he expects his team to approach the second leg in contrast to the first: "The first game I believe I had a lot of lessons to take away from the opponent's coach [Oliver] Glasner.

"Palace did things that they have been doing well before and they got results out of it. But us, we also did the things we were doing well from before, but we couldn't get the results in terms of goals.

"And we knew that on their level, they are always ready for the details of the game and they are ready for the moments. For instance, we had more than 70% possession in the first game, but our opponent is used to play in such a way against City, United or Arsenal in their league.

"They have a very special system with a very special coach. In the first game we were checkmated. I can only try to equalise in the second game.

"I have great respect for Glasner, for the coach. I am very happy to face him at such a level and I prefer learning when I face such a coach as an opponent.

"Tomorrow, I really expect a difficult game. I expect Crystal Palace to be more aggressive, and particularly more intense in high pressing, because they preferred waiting more in the first game.

"Maybe we will not have as much possession, but we will be threatening them, at least on the level that they will be threatening us. And we can never give up on playing the way we are playing, no matter the score, because it's a historical experience for us.

"We are trying to build future Shakhtar here. And I may not be Guardiola or Luis Enrique, but I always want to have the same way of playing, no matter where we are playing in the world or against which team.

"It's an excellent opponent, we will face tomorrow, and we will try to play our way tomorrow – and we will try to get the result this way."

From the pitch: Kauã Elias on lessons from the first leg

Shakhtar forward Kauã Elias – the Miners' top scorer in all competitions this season, with 11 goals – believes his side have learned from the first leg in Krakow.

"It was a surprise for us because it was a different game than we are used to," the Brazilian admitted. "We understand that it is another level of style of play, of how they play in the Premier League – so it was a surprise.

"We trained a lot and we will try to neutralise all their plays as much as possible, so that we can be victorious and also be able to implement our plays, so that we can score goals and not concede, which is the most important thing. We've trained a lot in relation to their weaknesses and also the strengths that we need to neutralise."

On his coach Turan – who replied "good answer, Elias, you're starting tomorrow!" – Elias added: "Even though he is young in this era of being a head coach, he has a massive experience of being a football player, and his experience that he can share with us is just incredible to explain.

"In this current season, he already helped us to learn a lot of things. And I believe and hope to learn from him even more soon.

"Unfortunately, I cannot tell you how and what is the way that we're going to use to advance against Palace. But I believe that Arda already, with his technical coach staff, have prepared for us the way we can beat them tomorrow.

"And it's also important to clarify that Arda is always giving us an idea of how important and how massive of a club Shakhtar is. Both we, Ukrainians and Brazilians, know that nothing is finished yet.

"Yes, the task that stands before us is incredibly tough, but it is not an impossible one. Advancing to the final and potentially winning it, that would be the biggest gift that we could grant for Ukrainian nation, to the people of our country. That's what we are aiming to do."

Their UEFA Conference League journey so far

Click here to find out more about Shakhtar Donetsk's extraordinary season.
Find out more about Shakhtar Donetsk.

Shakhtar's European campaign started way back in early-July in UEFA Europa League qualifying. Finnish side Ilves was swept aside 6-0 in the opening round of qualifying to set up a meeting with Beşiktaş.

An impressive 4-2 away win at the Turkish giants helped earn a 6-2 aggregate victory, with the Miners now just one tie away from the league phase.

A penalty shootout defeat to Greek side Panathinaikos in the third qualifying round, after two goalless legs plus extra-time, meant the Europa League dream was over.

But that meant Shakhtar moved into the Conference League, which has proved a blessing. After seeing off Servette FC in the qualifying round, four wins out of six league phase games saw them finish sixth in the final league table which meant advancing directly to the Round of 16.

A difficult tie against Polish champions Lech Poznań followed. Shakhtar produced an impressive 3-1 away victory in the first leg, with Isaque Silva scoring a spectacular overhead kick that will surely be remembered as one of the goals of the season.

The return leg proved trickier. Complacency appeared to creep in as Shakhtar found themselves 2-0 down at half-time. However, a fortunate own goal — following a series of deflections — helped settle nerves and ensured progression to the quarter-finals.

On paper, AZ Alkmaar represented their toughest challenge of the campaign. But the Ukranian Cup holders responded in emphatic fashion, producing a commanding 3-0 victory in the first leg — a match made even more significant by the presence of club president Rinat Akhmetov, who attended his first game in 12 years.

A disciplined performance in the second leg earned a 2-2 draw, sealing progression to only the third European semi-final in Shakhtar’s history.

Match Action: Shakhtar Donetsk 1-3 Crystal Palace

The Miners got off to a tough start against Palace in Krakow last week – time will tell if they can turn things around...

Match Details

Crystal Palace v Shakhtar Donetsk

Thursday, 7th May
20:00 BST
UEFA Conference League semi-final, second leg
Selhurst Park
Live audio commentary on Palace TV+

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