The author of a brace in the 3:0 Ukrainian Cup semi-final win over Bukovyna Chernivtsi shared his impressions on UPL TV after helping Dynamo Kyiv reach the final.
— Everything is great. A spring mood, a lot of people in the stands! It’s very pleasant to play in such an atmosphere when people come to football and there is such support. Unfortunately not for our team but still. It was great to play, we got wonderful emotions.
— You’re a young player and probably haven’t seen such full stadiums before, except maybe with the Ukraine national team. How is it when the whole stadium supports the opponent?
— Honestly it doesn’t matter who they support. The main thing is the atmosphere. Our task is to go out and get the result.
— Let’s go back to a key episode. It seemed from the broadcast that you asked to stop play before the first goal…
— I approached their player and asked if he was okay. He said everything was fine. I asked Bukovyna player to put the ball out but they didn’t. They had two chances to clear it… After that our team went on a counterattack, and I’m not going to just stand still. I ran – and scored. I think it was a fair goal. Maybe the referee is partly to blame for not stopping play, maybe Bukovyna – it’s hard for me to judge. But it’s good that we scored.
— You scored two similar goals after low crosses from Voloshyn. Twice you made sure to stay onside…
— During counterattacks my job is to run into the box, be in front of goal and wait for those flank crosses. We work on this a lot in training – coaches tell us where to run and what to do. So these are typical striker’s goals.
— Bukovyna started with five defenders. Many expected Dynamo to dominate possession but you scored on transitions. Did Bukovyna surprise you with their intensity and chance creation?
— Honestly, no. We knew they are a good team that hadn’t lost all season. If I’m not mistaken they only had three draws in the league… They knocked out strong teams like LNZ Cherkasy and Karpaty Lviv. So they’re a worthy side that deserved promotion to the Premier league and will compete there. Bukovyna have good potential but today we were stronger and that’s why we won.
— The second half had two different phases. There were many chances for the opponent, and you tracked back a lot and helped defensively. Was discipline at a high level today?
— I think it really was. As you saw Voloshyn worked hard defensively, even making tackles, and I tried to help the team as well. I can’t really judge myself but I worked very hard, just like Redushko. Our main goal today was to reach the final. We were all highly motivated because everyone has a huge desire to take this chance and win the Cup. Of course we’re not forgetting about the league either.
— Who would you like to face in the final?
— It doesn’t really matter – what matters is lifting the Cup. But we recently lost to Metalist 1925, and I didn’t play in that match, so now we need to take revenge.
