Roma midfielder Daniele De Rossi shared his impressions of Shakhtar.
De Rossi is delighted with the Champions League.
"This is a special tournament, the best in the world. Compare only with the World Cup. The voltage here is very high. Especially when you leave the band and prepare for the playoffs. In these matches, all the tension of the world is concentrated. You come to the stunning stadiums, play against fantastic teams and fantastic players. Alas, we do not have such a strong team, we never reached the semi-final or final, we are invariably knocked out in the quarter-finals. However, getting into the top eight in Europe is already worthy of respect in itself, "Daniel told UEFA's official website.
At the same time the midfielder of the Romans pays tribute to Shakhtar, with whom Roma will play in the 1/8 finals of the Champions League.
"Shakhtar is an incredible team. In this club very skillfully acquire players, and then resell. In recent years, many excellent Brazilians have signed here.. Many years ago I played against Shakhtar, but since then the composition of the team has almost completely changed. This is a serious contender who has been preparing for the match with us for a long time, since he has a winter break. The miner tries to go further, so that the confrontation will be tense ".
The return match of the team will be held in Rome at Stadio Olimpico.
"Eurocups at Stadio Olimpico are very emotional, and at the match with Shakhtar the atmosphere will be right. We achieved good results against Chelsea and Atletico, from the group we came out thanks to points earned on the road. I think if your team stronger opponent, it must win at home and away ".
Roma has already completed the minimum task for the season and now just strives to advance on the grid of the tournament.
"The minimum task was to take the third place in the group. Now put before a goal - stupid. We have to get into the quarter-finals, and then we'll see how things go and how we'll look against the background of whoever will get us ".
"Many miners underestimate the miner. And he knocked out such a big club, like Napoli. The miner is very strong, the upcoming confrontation will be a challenge for both sides. We in the Champions League already had cases when we lost the match before it started. But this time the situation is not such, we really can overcome Shakhtar ".
De Rossi also talked about coaches, under the guidance of which he played.
"If we talk about knowledge, then most of all I owe Capello. I always thought that someone who deserves to play in Serie A will play in Serie A. The one who deserves to play in the B series will play in the B series. That is, if I did not have the right qualities, no coach would make me a good player ".
"But at the same time it is important to develop under certain conditions, to debut at the right time, to get the necessary school of behavior. I owe all this to Capello. If we talk about those who taught me the most in football, I will name two people who equally influenced me ".
"First, Spalletti. He changed me a lot. I like his vision of football and the technique of training - they perfectly match with my views.
Train every day, constantly look for in-game opportunity for a pass. He taught me a lot in this regard ".
"Luis Enrique taught me to look at football in a different way. He showed me the idea of ??football, which differs from the traditionally Italian. He introduced me to a completely different style of play. And I feel that these important lessons have helped me become a better player ".
Shakhtar-Roma match will take place on Wednesday, February 21. The beginning - at 21:45 Kiev time.