Dynamo midfielder Oleksandr Pikhalenok quickly became one of the leaders of the capital's team after joining from Dnipro-1. After the Ukrainian championship match against Zorya, the midfielder shared his impressions of the game.
Oleksandr Pikhalonok. Photo: fcdynamo.com
- The Ukrainian national team returned to Kyiv late on Wednesday night. Was it enough to get away from the national team's affairs and switch to Dynamo's?
- Minimally. Now we have a lot of games in the league. Theory, recovery, then another match.
- After the match with Zorya, it seemed that you created chances very hard...
- Yes, that's true. "Zorya defended compactly. When they were exhausted, we were able to take advantage of the space and score a goal.
- Your substitutions strengthened Dynamo's game, but Zorya doesn't have such a bench?
- You could say that. Thank God we have a good bench. It affects the game.
- You have a newcomer - striker Guerrero. How do you like his arrival at Dynamo?
- I have only had a few training sessions with him so far. He is a qualified footballer, I think he will help us.
- Next week, Dynamo hosts Vorskla and Rukh. Can you cope with such a tight schedule?
- We will manage. It is important that the games will be at home in Kyiv. There is no need to travel anywhere.
- After a break, you returned to the location of the Ukrainian national team...
- It's always nice to return to our main team. I didn't play at Euro 2024 and now it's nice to be back at the location of the Ukrainian national team. However, we let our fans down by losing the opening two matches in the Nations League. For now, we have switched to club affairs, but in a month we will gather again in Poland, where we will continue our preparations for the next meetings at the national team level. We have every chance to improve our tournament position, so we shouldn't hang our heads.
- What do you think is the reason for the defeats against Albania and the Czech Republic?
- Everyone is to blame - both the players and the coaching staff. We wanted to get the maximum number of points in these games.
- You saw your friend Artem Dovbyk in the national team again. How many hours did you spend with him?
- By the way, not much. Artem was in the national team's location for only a few days because of an injury. He had an MRI and flew to Rome. Of course, we talked to him, he told us that the situation at our game with Roma, at the Stadio Olimpico, will be simply amazing. As an example, the second-round Serie A game between Roma and Empoli was attended by 67,500 spectators. Artem says that the fans are crazy in Rome and we need to be ready for this pressure. The atmosphere will be crazy for our Europa League match.
