Dynamo Kyiv forward Matvii Ponomarenko spoke on the program Pro Football Digital about the home match against Karpaty Lviv which the “White-Blues” lost 0:1, and the moment involving his disallowed goal:
– What is there to comment on – it was a clear goal. All my friends who watched the match on TV texted me saying it was a fair goal. If goals like this aren’t counted… I’m sure that in England, in a situation like this, they wouldn’t even check VAR.
Karpaty goalkeeper and the medical staff were first shouting that he needed to be substituted and then he got up and continued playing. I believe I scored according to the rules. If goals like this won’t be counted I don’t know how to continue playing…
I saw that the goalkeeper didn’t secure the ball, he let it go and I was first to touch it – I went for the ball and kicked it away. Of course there was contact, I’m not denying that, because it was a game situation but he didn’t have the ball under control. I know the rules – when a goalkeeper has possession and when he doesn’t.
On VAR, in motion, you can see that it’s a goal – everyone says it was scored legally. But then they just take a freeze frame where the goalkeeper hasn’t touched the ball and is holding his hands over it without controlling it, and based on that they cancel the goal – I don’t understand that.
– Do you think your red card was deserved?
– I can’t really say anything. If the referee gave it, then I guess it was deserved. I didn’t intend to swing my arm or anything like that. I was getting up and saw someone jumping on top of me – I had no intention to hit him. I was still on the ground and suddenly the whole team was rushing at me. There was no aggression from my side. I just wanted to get up and quickly restart play, and then everything escalated. Well, if it’s a red card – then it’s a red card.
– Recently there have been many emotional events in your life: a national team call-up, your debut goal, today’s disallowed goal and the sending-off. How do you calm yourself in moments like this?
– You need to detach from everything, not read any news, just think about the next game. That’s the life of a footballer – when you’re in the spotlight, people will write about you. I’ll try to go into every match with desire and help the team.
