Former Dynamo forward and now a famous football expert Viktor Leonenko expressed his opinion on the current Ukrainian championship and the chances of our national team at Euro-2024.
Viktor Leonenko- In the last interview you said that you do not watch UPL.
- I don't. The World Snooker Championship and the Giro d'Italia are more important to me. In our country, as such, there is no football. Or rather, it is there, but I do not see football players.
- Yuriy Maksimov said yesterday that he would leave Dnipro-1 if Dnipro fail to win against Kryvbas.
- We have known each other since 16 years. I respect him very much, although there are enough questions: how can you constantly lead in the score and never win? But I do not want to tease him. It's funny to me, but he is a coach and he loses his health at work.
Apparently, Max has had enough, if he said so. Plus he's an explosive guy. But his statement looks solid. Not everyone can do that, most coaches should be kicked out. Now let's see how much respect the players have for him. If I were him, I would not go to Dnipro-1 at all, but would stay at Polesie. But he went. This is his choice.
- What do you think about the championship race? Do Dynamo have a chance to catch up with Shakhtar?
- If Shakhtar win, they will already be champions. I said this at the beginning of the championship. One team is already definitely satisfied with a draw, so the game may not work out - play from defence, that's all. Although this is not Shakhtar's tactics. And Dynamo are not really good at controlling the ball. Unfortunately, there is a lack of skill.
Look at Liverpool. They have the same tractor drivers as we do, but there is a lot of money there. In the APL people get 100 thousand pounds a week, but they make mistakes like we do in the UPL.
Do you think Dynamo or Shakhtar would take Mudryk for such money now? Hardly. Our fans would have already eaten him. So the English championship is no better than UPL, it is just more interesting to watch, because people burp and die there, the mistakes are the same as in ours, just for more money.
- What do you think about Skrypnyk, who led Metalist 1925 and is now in last place in UPL?
- Skrypnyk has already shown that he is a good coach in "Vorskla", where there were no good players, but he made a decent team. In "Metalist 1925" there is only one problem, it is buying players. Another excuse is that it is just not his club. Moreover, now there is nowhere to buy players, the best ones will go to Poland.
- Since you mentioned Poland, does Khatskevich need to return to Ukraine?
- As far as I know, he cannot leave yet, because he is making a passport. Well, why should he not lead a club in the UPL? He took a crap in Poland, but even there he tried to attach Ukrainians. After Dynamo, he can head any club in Ukraine, except Shakhtar. Khatskievich will not go to Shakhtar even if he is forcibly brought there by guards, because he is a Dynamo player.
Let's see who else will be the coach at Kolos and Polesie. If I were Butkevich, I would take Tolik Bessmertny to Polesie, and the results would already be visible. Bessmertny is a very serious specialist.
- What do you think about the prospects of the Ukraine national team at Euro-2024, where our opponents are Belgium, Slovakia and Romania?
- We can play with all of them, although we often win by chance. I expect quality from our national team. If there is quality, there will be victories. But you see how it is with us. One guy is going to war, and they keep taking him off the train. I'm tired of meeting him at the railway station. A blond guy, Zinchenko's name. And we're always looking for the "Lion of the Match". What is there to look for? If you score a goal, you're already "Lion of the Match"! If you didn`t score, you`re a goalkeeper!
Andriy PISKUN
