- I’m really glad we’ve played this game and we’re approaching the season restart. Of course we still need to improve many aspects of our play. The game against Rukh was very beneficial in this regard. We’ve faced a really decent opponent. Of course some aspects were tough as this was our first match after long break. Anyway, we keep working to reach our minimal goals – finish second in the UPL and win the Ukrainian Cup.
- Rukh are currently the First League leaders. Do they deserve featuring in the UPL?
- I think they do. They’re really orderly team, their coach is doing a good job. Each player knows what to do on the field.
- You hit the woodwork today with a spectacular strike…
- It was a good chance for a shot. I saw that goalkeeper left the corner and tried to hit it. Unfortunately I was a bit unlucky. Of course it would have been great to score, but at the moment our team performance is more important. I hope I’ll be lucky to score in some official game.
- Another chance happened when you tried to score from the corner flag. Is this already your thing?
- Usually keepers don’t expect player taking a corner to try to score right from the flag. Thus they leave the corner unprotected. I try to use such episodes. Even if I don’t score, I try to curl the ball in so that one of my teammates sent it into the net. This time I didn’t hit the target, but, as I’ve said, I hope I’ve saved such goals for official games.
- You made a substitute appearance and were very active on the field. What do you think of your fitness? Could you play the whole match?
- I feel I’m in a great shape. I worked really hard during the quarantine. I’ve played for 30-35 minutes, but of course I wanted to play the whole match. Anyway, that’s up to coaches. As for me, I’m always ready to benefit the team.
- You’ve been having ordinary training process for 10 days. What are the priorities at your sessions?
- Our sessions are intense. We work on our game connections. Of course we’ve missed a lot, so now we need to catch up. But we don’t lose a single minute and try to approach official games in good shape.
- They say you’ll face Shakhtar in two more weeks. Is that time enough to get ready?
- Yes, that’s enough. Personally I want the league to restart the next weekend, but as far as this happens on June 6 we’ll have one more week. I hope we’ll be totally ready for the game against Shakhtar. It’s very important to us and we must grab three points.
