The 19-year-old goalkeeper of Vorskla Poltava, Pavlo Isenko, who has already established himself as a master of penalty kicks, recalled his debut in adult football and spoke about his goalkeeping skills.
- Which of the coaches started to bring you into Vorskla's first team?
- Back when Vasyl Sachko was the head coach, he involved me in training with the first team a couple of times. And I had already started to get into the Vorskla first team application thanks to Vitalii Kosovskyi's work.
- But your debut at the adult level took place under the leadership of Yurii Maksymov in the semifinals of the Ukrainian Cup in a match against Mariupol. How did it happen?
- Before the match, Maksymov told me that if there was a penalty shootout, I would come on the field. And so it happened.
- What were your emotions during that game?
- I had conflicting feelings. At first, I was afraid, and I wanted the game not to go to penalties, so that I wouldn't have to play in such a crucial match. Then I realized that I wanted to play. At first I was nervous, but when I got on the field, everything went away.
- You took three penalties in that series, and the team reached the final. How did the team perceive this success?
- Everyone was very happy and excited. Of course, they praised me as well.
- It is obvious to everyone that you are an excellent penalty kicker, but what other strong goalkeeping qualities could you highlight?
- It's hard to say. We work with the coaches on all components. This is more of a question for them.
- But still, do you have any secrets to saving penalties, or does it happen intuitively?
- Yes, I do have a secret, but of course I don't want to reveal it.
Dmytro Venkov