Dynamo midfielder Vladyslav Kabaiev spoke about his recovery from a recent injury and signing a new contract with the club.
- Today’s training session was interesting and intense. Tell us about your condition and the team’s condition.
- I feel good. Of course, the result in the previous match wasn’t what we expected but the atmosphere in the team is good. You could see that we trained with smiles and positive energy.
I feel fine but you always want to feel even better. Mentally everything is good but physically there is still work to do. I stay after training to put in extra work, go to the gym with the coach - I do everything to return to the starting lineup as soon as possible or at least come on as a substitute.
- How long did it take you to recover from the injury? Is the extra work after training a result of that injury?
- Yes, I missed quite a lot of time, almost the entire training camp so I didn’t really have a proper foundation. Now I see that guys are in good shape while it’s still a bit tough for me - I haven’t fully regained my form yet, so to speak.
That’s why I stay after training, do running work and even come in on days off to train more because I understand that it’s in my interest to play and help the team. I hope that I will return to the pitch soon.
- You recently signed a new contract with Dynamo. Tell us about your emotions.
- It happened quite spontaneously. I hadn’t been in the squad for a while, hadn’t trained and hadn’t seen the president. After one of the matches I met him and we talked. He asked if I wanted to stay.
Of course, I feel at home here - everyone knows me, I know guys and Kyiv now feels like my hometown. So, naturally, I wanted to stay. At my age I’m already like a “veteran”, so to speak - there aren’t many of us left (smiles). I feel like I’m part of a family here so I’m very happy to remain with the team. I don’t want to stay at the same level - I want to improve. I know I can get better. I’m happy to be here.
