SHAKTAR COACH LUCESCU SPEAKS "IT IS HARD TO MOTIVATE SHAKTAR DONETSK PLAYERS NOW"

Shakhtar Donetsk coach Mircea Lucescu admits he
is finding it difficult to motivate his team due to
the political situation in Ukraine.
Lucescu's team left Donetsk, held by pro-Russian
rebels, in July last year and have trained and
played in Lviv since.
Shakhtar visit Bayern Munich on Wednesday after
playing out a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their
UEFA Champions League last 16 tie.
Lucescu said the political situation in Ukraine was
extremely hard on his players.
"This is a very difficult situation for us. It's hard
to motivate the players," he said.
"We have lost much, even the sympathy of our
fans. Few people come to our games, but that's
also because we don't play in our home.
"People there [in Lviv] see us as a team from the
East and that is very difficult for us. We work
under very difficult conditions.
"Therefore, it is very difficult to motivate the
team and deal with the situation. Also, the players
can't hide from that."
Lucescu's team visit Allianz Arena to face a
rampant Bayern side, with Pep Guardiola's men
unbeaten in eight games in all competitions and 11
points clear atop the Bundesliga.
The 69-year-old Romanian lauded Guardiola and
said the Spaniard was one of the best coaches.
"In my career I've rarely seen such a good coach,"
Lucescu said.
"We haven't got a great friendship because we
have played against each other often. And how you
can remember, we lost against Barcelona at that
time [in the 2010-11 quarter-finals].
"Bayern has outstanding players. If you have a look
at the squad, this is one of the strongest teams in
Europe. We simply want to sell ourselves and play
good football."