Oleksandr Aliyev: "Mudryk is neither a star nor a leader of the national team"

Former Dynamo Kyiv and Ukraine midfielder Oleksandr Aliyev shared his expectations from the Euro 2023 (U-21) quarter-final match between France and Ukraine.

- Unfortunately, I did not watch any of the three matches of the "youth" at Euro 2023 (U-21) from the first to the last minute. Service, business ... Therefore, I can't analyse the games and the overall performance of Ruslan Rotan's boys, and I don't want to say anything. I watched reviews of all the matches.

- Oleksandr, this team is often compared to the youth team of the times when you and your friend Artem Milevskyi were on fire. Is such a comparison appropriate?

- You used the right word - "compared". No, our generation with Milevsky and the current one are completely different. We could draw some parallels, but I just sincerely wish Petrovych's (Ruslan Rotan's - ed.) team to go further. First of all, to beat the French national team in the 1/4 finals.

France is a very difficult opponent, but our team also has great young guys. Rotan will definitely set everyone up for a fight, explain to those who do not understand, perhaps, the importance of this game, and then... we will cheer.

I believe that our guys are professionals, and their motivation is sky-high.

- Perhaps in the game against France we will finally see the main star of the youth team, Mykhailo Mudryk, on the field.

- Ruslan Rotan is not his own enemy, and if Mudryk is healthy and ready to play, he will put him on the field from the first minutes of the game. However, no one knows how Mudryk is feeling. Only people who are part of the national team.

As for Mudryk's stardom, I don't consider him a star. You, the journalists and correspondents, have made him a star in the first place. Mudryk is neither a star nor a leader of the national team. He came to Chelsea and what? Does he play? No, he doesn't. When he starts playing in the London club, when he starts showing a high-quality game at a high level, then we can call him a star. But not now. Now he is just a footballer.

In the current youth team, I would not single out anyone at all, except Ruslan Rotan. I think he is a great coach.

- Our defenders and especially goalkeeper Ruslan Neshcheret received a lot of criticism after the game against Spain. Was it deserved?

- There are days like this, games like this. Maybe Neshcheret didn't have a good game. Football is a team game. All eleven players have to be one, to cover for each other. Do you blame Neshcheret for everything? No. I definitely won't do that, neither Ruslan nor anyone else. In general, I don't like to get personal.

Viktor Ukhov