— How important was it to win against "Polissya", especially after the defeat to "Ferencváros"?
— It was very important. We needed to rehabilitate ourselves in front of our fans in Kyiv. And generally, life and breathing are easier with victories. Now there is a break for national team matches, and we are going into this weekend with a good mood. We will continue to work to avoid games like the one against "Ferencváros".
— How much did the two goals energize the team?
— Of course, when you score an early goal, it becomes easier to play going forward. Confidence in your abilities increases, and the opposing team opens up more.
What "Polissya" added during the match, especially while being a man down, is our mistake. Psychologically, many teams in certain situations play according to the score, regardless of the coach's motivation. I won’t say that in such situations you don’t want to—you in fact want to. But there are moments when you relax a bit. And "Polissya" needed to score. And they went for it. This was partly a shortcoming on our part. Not in terms of skill, but in terms of psychology.
— In the match against "Ferencváros" you played with a man down, whereas here it was the opposite.
— "Ferencváros" has a team of good level. I won’t say that "Polissya" is of a bad level, but everything is faster in the European arena. I wouldn’t say that the atmosphere there is oppressive, but it is a bit different.
Frankly, after this victory, I don’t want to talk about the match with "Ferencváros". We have already discussed it among ourselves in the team, with the coach, we analyzed everything, and we are moving forward. We have even forgotten about the game with "Polissya".
— Does the fact that "Oleksandriya" is gaining points in sync with "Dynamo" create pressure?
— That’s great. I won’t say that I am happy for them. (Smiles). But every year, some team like that pops up. "Oleksandriya" is not at the top for nothing; they play good football with quality players. We have two matches against "Oleksandriya" at the end of the year. I can only repeat that this team deserves the place it currently occupies.
Vladislav Kabaev. Photo — Yu. Yuriev
