Oleksandr Karavayev: "After the sending off, I had to take off the attacking player"

Dynamo Kyiv midfielder Oleksandr Karavayev commented on his team's final game away to Metalist 1925 Kharkiv (1-1) in the Ukrainian league and summed up the season's results

Alexander Karavayev

- What were your impressions of the match? "Wasn't it the first time Dynamo played at the Bannikov National Training Centre?

- Yes, I haven't played at this stadium for a long time, I only trained a lot when I was in the national team. It was a bit unusual, because the stadium is compact, the stands are small, but everything is fine.

Of course, we wanted to finish the last game on a winning note, but there was a penalty in our squad, and then it was very difficult with ten men for almost a half. But there were periods when we succeeded a lot, moments when we could have scored with ten men, because we played a little better.

The opponent didn't seem to need a victory, because for them one point was enough to solve their problems, so they didn't go forward much, and we had situations when we ran out on counterattacks, etc. Of course, you always want to win, but today it turned out that we drew.

- Did the suspension spoil your plans for the game a bit?

- Of course, because we had to rebuild, take off one attacking player, and after that there was less room for manoeuvre.

- What tasks did the coaches set for you when you took to the pitch?

- To play more compactly, because we had one less player, and that made it harder to play. We also had to run out on the counterattack. We also felt that we could control the game, because the opponent was sitting down at their goal and giving us the initiative. So we played our game and tried to create chances.

- What are your plans for the near future?

- I'm going on holiday and will spend it in Kyiv with my family. When you are with your family and everything is fine, it is the most important thing.

- What are some brief results of the season you can summarise? Is fourth place not the result you were hoping for?

- Yes, of course, this is not the place we expected, because we always fight only for the first places. The current result was influenced by many factors during the season. We will draw conclusions, and next season we will do everything in a new way, prepare for every match to win.