József Szabó: "Let them give me a gun - I will fight. I know how to shoot. I will defend my country to the last man"

Former Dynamo Kyiv and Ukraine national team coach Jozsef Szabo shared his opinion on the outcome of the championship race in the UPL, as well as expressed his views on war and mobilisation.

- Jozsef Jozsefovic, Shakhtar became the champion of Ukraine, Dynamo second. How do you like the championship?

- I said at the beginning of the season that Shakhtar would be the champion. Their squad is the strongest in Ukraine. Sasha Shovkovskiy is good, I liked the way he transformed Dynamo after Lucescu, but he has mostly young players. We still have to work and work.

Let's hope for next year that Dynamo will impose competition to Shakhtar. I do not know whether the war will be over by then or not. It is better not to read the news now. Yesterday they wrote that the Russians, sons of bitches, captured Volchansk, today - that ours are holding the city.

- What do you think about the war today?

- High-ranking Western politicians come to Ukraine, they support us, but we need more. It would be a different matter if we had introduced troops! We don't have enough people. A lot of people have simply fled Ukraine, they are drowning in the Tisza. Holy shit! I don't understand this.

How can you abandon your homeland in a difficult moment? I've been sitting in Kiev since the beginning of the full-scale war. Whatever happens, I'm ready for anything! But I had no thoughts of running away, even though I was offered. I can only go to Transcarpathia for a day to visit the graves of my parents and brothers. That's all!

Even if this Russian bastard came to Kiev, I would not go anywhere. Let them give me a gun - I'll fight. I know how to shoot. I'll defend my country to the last man.

- Would you shoot a Russian?

- I wouldn't shoot a civilian, but on the battlefield - yes! A Russian soldier is my enemy. It's either him or me.

- Six UPL clubs have a reservation from mobilisation. There are already cases of mobilisation of players of the First and Second leagues. What is your opinion, should footballers fight?

- Top Ukrainian footballers should play, but they should not be recruited by blat. It is enough for Ukrainian clubs to have 20 players in the application form, no more. This is enough. We are not England, where they play in three days. The rest, from 25 years old, should take up arms and defend our country. We don't have enough men in the army! Each of us will have to fight.

Andriy Piskun