Dnipro-1 midfielder Oleksiy Hutsulyak, who scored his team's winning goal in yesterday's 1-0 match against Dynamo Kyiv in the 11th round of the Ukrainian championship, shared his impressions of the game.
- How does it feel to be a footballer who scored a goal in the central match of the tour and brought his team victory?
- I won't say I'm a hero. I just seized the moment and scored a goal - that's all.
- What was the attack that led to your goal?
- Honestly, I don't remember. I haven't even watched my goal in the replay yet. So I can't say anything. It was a team effort that I completed correctly.
- What did Maksymov say to you during the break?
- He reassured me. He said that everything was going well, according to plan. The main thing was that he asked us not to invent anything.
- How do you explain your replacement?
- Physically, I was ready to continue playing. My substitution was due to the fact that I already had a yellow card, and we were afraid that the referee would not find a moment after which I would miss the next game.
- Do you have any complaints about your performance?
- Of course, there were mistakes. The one who does not play does not make mistakes. There is always something you need to work on.
- Did you get a yellow card for a good reason?
- I think there was no card there. I saw that I was not in time, so I did not play the opponent. I was just making a roll to block the ball. The Dynamo player hit me by inertia and started shouting. If you give yellow cards for that...
Then in the second half, there was a moment when Lednev was hit in the Achilles from behind, in the centre of the pitch, and the referee didn't give anything for it. That moment was more like a yellow card. But I'm not a referee.
- How did you feel when the referee went to watch TV when the penalty was being considered?
- Personally, I didn't understand why he went to watch that episode at all. I knew for sure that I didn't have a hand - I knocked the ball out with my head very low. I didn't see who I was and where I hit the ball. As the guys said later, Filipov's hand was there, but he pressed it completely to his body. There was nothing for the referee to hold on to.
- What can you say about the game itself?
- It was not an easy game. The first half was still equal. In the second half, we made substitutions, we sat down somewhere - we didn't want to take any risks and played to the scoreline. As you can see, it brought us a result.
- What does a victory over one of your main rivals give your team?
- Such a victory gives confidence. "Dynamo is always a brand. Winning such matches is an indicator that you are not worse.
- Can we already say that Dnipro-1 has overcome the crisis and is gaining momentum?
- Of course we can. We have already moved on from those unsuccessful matches in the European Cups, and we have already won four games in a row in the domestic arena. Now we have an away series of matches in which we are setting ourselves up to win.
Oleksandr Petrov