- Let’s start with your impressions of Ukraine…
- When I was moving here I knew it would be difficult to get accustomed to new culture and language at once. The experience I had in Moldova was very helpful. Your countries have much in common. I like Kyiv a lot. It’s great to live in the city with lots of nice places like Dnipro shore front, Khreshchatyk, Sofiivska and Mykhailivska square. Every day I enjoy being in Kyiv, communicating with Ukrainians, playing for Dynamo. Kyiv resembles my native Portugal a bit…
- Have you already found friends in Dynamo?
- Every player is my friend! I’m an open guy and I treat everyone in the same manner. I’ll do anything for my friends to make them happy.
- Now let’s talk about you a bit.
- I was born in Portugal. Then my mom and I moved to Luxembourg. There were more possibilities in this country. My mom worked a lot to give me decent life. She did everything to help me become a professional football player. My first team was the French side FC Metz. I spent five years there. It was not just a football school, but a school of life too. I played in several countries. Each club has influenced me in this or that way. When I finally became a professional, my mom was very happy. She’s already gone, but I’m sure she knows who I am and what kind of team I play for. Family is the biggest value in my life. I have no father, so now my uncles, grandma, son and friends are my family. I do what I can to make their life comfortable.
- What kind of person are you in everyday life?
- Emotional one. But I spare my emotions only for friends and family.
- New country means language barrier…
- I try to deal with it. I speak French, Luxembourgish, English, German and Portuguese. Now I study Russian and Ukrainian.
- What was your life in Luxembourg like? What kind of football do they have there?
- I didn’t play too long there. Luxembourgish league can be compared with amateur competitions, but Luxembourg national team is getting better. Anyway, success demands significant investments.
- What are your impressions of the new club, training complex, supporters?
- Dynamo are the club with great history and traditions. Supporters of the team are quite tough and fanatic. Their club is their life which is very good. Dynamo training complex is of decent level.
- What are your impressions of Ukrainians?
- I’m a bit surprised as I’ve faced aggression here. Maybe I notice that as I used to live in Japan, where people are very calm. But I’m getting used to it. Generally it seems Ukrainians’ character isn’t soft. I guess it has something to do with harsh history of the country.
- What do you think of Olexiy Mykhailychenko?
- He’s a great person and specialist, true professional and demanding coach. We communicate all the time. He persuades us that we can do anything.
- Has the training process changed?
- Now we work more intensively. The exercise load is more significant. But we do what coach tells us to as we know that will benefit us. To cover the long distance we must be strong. Now defenders must help attacking players while forwards must defend too. I lack mutual misunderstanding with my teammates on the field so far, but I’m sure that will change soon.
- Maybe the problem is that it’s more comfortable for you to play in the left wing.
- It is, but if they need me to be a goalkeeper, I’ll do it. I play for the team, not for myself. My major task is to help Dynamo and I do my best.
- With whom do you have the best mutual understanding on the field?
- Verbic, Kadiri and Buialskyi. I teach Vitaliy English and he teaches me Russian and Ukrainian (laughing). Once we had a confrontation at the training session and our teammates had to set us apart. But then we made up the quarrel and now everything is fine.
Elzara DZHAPAROVA, FC Dynamo Kyiv magazine (#4, September-October 2019)
