Matvey Ponomarenko: "I took a console with me to Euro U-19, but it was taken away from me"

Dynamo Kyiv and Ukraine U-19 striker Matviy Ponomarenko spoke about how the players spend their free time between matches of the European Youth Championship.

- How do you spend your leisure time in the national team now?

- The main thing is to be in bed by 23, and yes, you can go for a walk somewhere. If you have family, you can spend time with them. We are given a schedule, and everything has to be strictly according to it - theories, massage, lunch, dinner. We need everyone to be there so that the coaches can see everyone.

- In April, we talked to Dmytro Mykhailenko about the hobbies of young footballers. What do you do outside of football now? Are there any players in the national team who still read books?

- I haven't seen any(laughs).

- And Dmytro Mykhaylenko said that he hadn't seen any books either. What about PlayStation, social networks?

- I brought a console with me, but they took it away from me - they give it to me for a while. We play it. There's just nothing to do in the hotel. Of course, the guys come over, we socialize, talk a lot, go for walks.

But when you are very tired after the game, you just want to lie down. Maybe play FIFA on PlayStation with someone, watch something on YouTube or a movie.

Daryna Kalinchuk