Former Dynamo Kyiv defender Goran Popov commented on the situation, in which his former team-mate Artem Milevskiy found himself.
Goran Popov- I read that Artem has been in hospital for five days already. Igor Mykhailovich Surkis is helping with this, but I have not communicated with him on this topic, it is uncomfortable to ask such things.
We were close friends with Artem, we spent time together every day for two years. I read that Aliev asked: where is Milevskiy's agent now, where are his friends?
But Artem was not helped even when he earned big money. I told him every day: save your money, buy 2-3 flats in Kyiv. He had a salary of one and a half million a year. With that amount of money you could buy two flats, the rent of which would bring you an income of 3-4 thousand dollars.
When he was sober, he would agree: "Goran, you're right". But when he drank, his head changed. He was bad for himself. When his friends, 15-20 people, were at the restaurant, I always saw that Milevsky did not let anyone pay, always closed the accounts himself. He is my friend, and I am always ready to help him. But in the last 6-8 months he has completely lost, disappeared for all our acquaintances.
The last time I saw him was in Romania, when Macedonia played with Ukraine. We made a video for his channel.
- Has he had problems like this before?
- No. He looked just fine at the time. But we have a mutual friend, who has Milevskyi every other day, and he told us that Artem has been drinking every day since the war started. Literally every day, without stopping. Anton said that if Milevsky does not go to treatment, he will be ill. I asked Artem why he did not leave Kyiv, he clearly answered that he did not want to, that he played there in Dynamo, that he would not go anywhere. Then I wrote to him, but he did not answer.
- But alcohol in your company was also present during game time....
- It used to happen after matches. We fought with Shakhtar, we won almost every game. And after the victory you can go to a restaurant for a walk. But it's one thing when you train every day, and another thing when you don't do sports, then problems like Milevskiy's can arise. While we were playing, it was not a big problem, it did not hinder us on the pitch.
Then Aliev had difficulties, I heard that he was coded when he played at Lokomotiv, but then Alexander finished his career. He also drank, but he managed to recover.
And then the war started. In terms of alcohol, Aliev was calmer than Milevsky. Artem is a smart and good man, but he is bad for himself. We need to cure him.
The main thing is that he should not continue drinking. I have seen his photo: if you have gained 30 kg a year after the end of your career, it is not normal. It's a serious problem. You have to calm down, go on living, working. When there is no work, you only drink and you are alone with bad thoughts. Alcohol doesn't solve the problem.
