The Ukrainian midfielder of London’s Arsenal, Alexander Zinchenko, summed up yesterday’s return match of his team against Dutch PSV (2:2) in the Round of 16 of the Champions League, where he, let’s recall, scored a goal, and also shared expectations for the confrontation with Madrid’s Real in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Alexander Zinchenko"The most important thing is that we moved on, and we are eagerly awaiting the next matches. We should be proud of the result we achieved. Of course, we are looking for something more, but I think we are at a very interesting stage of the season when each game feels like a final.
Personally, I had a special feeling today—playing against my former team (let us note that Zinchenko did not celebrate his goal against PSV, which can be seen in the video,—editor’s note). I really loved this club, which treated me warmly. Although I didn’t spend too much time at PSV, I have amazing memories from that loan season (2016/17 season, 17 matches for PSV, 4 assists,—editor’s note). The reception there was so warm that even after I returned from my loan to Manchester City, I visited Eindhoven a few times on weekends. So that’s how much I love this place. And I wish PSV all the best—there are fantastic people there.
My appearance on the field as a midfielder? I wouldn’t say that this is a completely new position for me because I have played there a lot before, especially for the Ukrainian national team. However, I told Martin Ødegaard and Declan Rice that now I understand how much they run. These are the demands at this level.
As for the upcoming confrontation with Real in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, any team can punish you in this tournament. At this stage, only world-class teams are left. So I am just eagerly looking forward to this confrontation. Real is one of the biggest clubs in the world, having won the Champions League 15 times, and it has many world-class players with incredible experience in its squad. So we will need to show our best game, otherwise at this stage of the tournament, it won’t work,”—Zinchenko’s words are quoted by the official UEFA website and the official Arsenal website.
WATCH Zinchenko’s goal video on our Telegram channel.
