After Tuesday's training session, Dynamo Kyiv goalkeeper Heorhii Bushchan spoke about his 100 matches for the White and Blues in the Ukrainian league and his preparations for the upcoming match against Dnipro-1.
- How do you feel after a confident victory over Polissia? What is the mood within the team?
- Everything is fine, however, I was a little sick before the game, so I spent the day off on Monday at home. The mood is good, but we expect that the fight for gold medals is still ahead. There are six rounds left, we are four points away from the first place, but I think nothing is impossible, so I would not distinguish the victory over Polissia from any other.
- After the match against Minaj, did you manage to play better? Were there any criticisms?
- We play in such a club that if you win confidently, they say that the opponent is weak, if you win less confidently, they criticise our performance. If we draw, it is perceived as a defeat. I'm used to it, so I take a philosophical attitude, I don't read comments much. Winning is the most important thing. For each victory, you get three points, so we played successfully and moved on. Later we'll look into it and see what's wrong.
- You took the children of the deceased Dynamo fans to the match against Polissia, what were your feelings about joining this campaign?
- We have been supporting the Tribune of Heroes charity fund for a long time, and all the clubs have joined this campaign and are taking part in it. It's a pity that the reason the children came out with us is sad. We try to support them. I hope that the emotions they received when they came out on the pitch will brighten up their lives at least a little.
- Did it further motivate the players to play?
- Yes, it also added emotion and motivation to us. We sympathise with every family that is in grief. War is a big problem in our country, and we express our solidarity with these families. It is impossible to believe that this is happening in the 21st century. I take it to heart. Participation in this campaign gave us the strength to win.
- Did you keep track of your statistics? Did you know that the match against Polissia would be your 100th in the Premier League?
- No, I did not follow and did not know about the 100th match. But I was expecting to play my 150th match for Dynamo in all competitions in a few matches. If we take into account the time during which I played these matches, I think I played a little. I could have played more, but, unfortunately, there were injuries and competition. I know that to catch up with Oleksandr Shovkovskyi, I need to play two more careers (smiles). In general, it's nice to play 100 matches in the Premier League. And there are still many more to come.
- You played half of these matches with zero points, are you happy with this percentage of dry matches?
- You have to take into account the fact that I play for Dynamo, where the best players in the country are gathered, so this percentage of dry matches is so high. It's better to see how many I missed, perhaps I need to improve something in this column (smiles). In general, of course, it's very nice to play "zero" and win.
- Which match during this time do you remember the most? Which one could you single out?
- Perhaps I would single out two matches - my debut match for Dynamo and the championship match, when we defeated Ingulets and won the championship ahead of schedule.
- What match do you consider unsuccessful and would you like to forget?
- There were a couple of matches that I would like to erase from my memory (smiles).
- Tell us what today's training session was about, what did you pay special attention to?
- It was the first training session in the weekly cycle, more for emotions. We worked out in the gym and prepared for the main part of the training. We, the goalkeepers, had our own work. In general, we have two days that we mostly devote to training. So everything is as usual, we follow the usual schedule. There's no point in highlighting any new exercises.
- What is your favourite part of goalkeeping training?
- I'll make a joke: my favourite part is when the coaches say the training session is over (laughs). I admit, we are all a bit lazy.
- The next match is against Dnipro-1, what do you remember about this opponent after the first round match?
- They are a good opponent. We play away, and it's hard for all teams there. We think only about winning, because we have no way back, only forward. I expect it to be a tough match.
- In the last match, Dynamo lost narrowly, thanks to Hutsulyak's goal, but in the second part of the season, Dnipro-1 doesn't look as strong?
- The match may differ from match to match, but all opponents come out against Dynamo as if they were in their last battle. This has always been the case and will always be the case. Whether our opponent is on the move or in a slump doesn't matter. I repeat, when teams play against Dynamo, they have the strength to do anything.
- There are rumours that the teams may play this match in Kyiv, or would you like the game to be moved from Dnipro?
- I think it is unlikely that this will happen. There are frequent air raids in Dnipro, so you need to understand that we can play a couple of hours longer because of this. We just want to play calmly and make sure everything goes well.
- This time the team will have a full week-long training cycle, is it more usual than playing twice a week?
- People get used to everything, and we're already used to playing on the third day on the fourth. We did it in the autumn when we took part in the European Cups, and now in the league. It is better to play in this mode, because you are constantly in good shape, and there are fewer training sessions (smiles).