Andrii Bliznichenko: "If you compare Konoplyanka with Mudryk, Dovbyk and Tsygankov, it's heaven and earth"

Veres Rivne midfielder Andrii Bliznichenko recalled playing for Dnipro alongside the famous Ukrainian midfielder Yevhen Konoplyanka.

- You joined Dnipro in the days of Juande Ramos. Yevhen Konoplyanka also played in that team. Was he the most talented Ukrainian footballer at the peak of his career?

- Of course he was. Remember his game and the clubs he played for. He was a super talent.

I think he could have achieved much more than Viktor Tsygankov, Artem Dovbyk and Mykhailo Mudryk, who are considered our biggest stars today. I didn't train with Mudryk, but I trained a little bit with Tsygankov and Dovbyk. If you compare Konoplyanka to them, it's heaven and earth.

Zhenya did incredible things in training and in games. He could beat two or three people on a small piece of pitch one-on-one, and run away from anyone.

And this is despite the fact that in his time the UPL was two levels higher than when the boys started playing in it. Such world-class stars as Willian, Douglas Costa, Fred, Fernandinho played against Konoplyanka, and he really drove them.

- Yes, but at the same time, Konoplyanka's laziness is legendary.

- When I went to the first training camp with Dnipro, I noticed that he did not give his best in training. We ran a lot under Ramos. Every morning we ran on the sand on the beach or in the mountains. We did a lot of work. Konoplyanka missed a game here and there.

We even approached Rusol as young players and asked him: "How will Konoplyanka play in the championship if he misses crosses and so on? He'll run a hundred metres in one direction or the other and choke to death." He replied: "Guys, he has such an organism that he can even miss all the training sessions, but he will still be the best on the field. He will run a hundred metres and make a header. Then he will stand for ten minutes, run another hundred metres and score a goal. And we don't need anything else."

- Do you think that Konoplyanka's lack of professionalism prevented him from showing his worth in Europe?

- I don't know for sure, but I assume that this was the reason. Europe has a completely different approach to footballers. There is no one Konoplyanka who makes the whole game. All players are equal. Those who don't work don't play. Perhaps he already had such a habit that sometimes you can train 100 per cent, and sometimes 50 per cent.

Dmytro Venkov