Former defender of Zorya and coach of Kryvbas, Vitaliy Vernidub, shared interesting details about two players once loaned by the Luhansk team from Shakhtar — Ruslan Malinovskyi and Maksym Maliyshev.
— Malinovskyi had a crazy shot. And set pieces were dangerous. Defenders had a hard time, and attackers — just put your head in the way. And there was no need to shoot. He delivered and executed set pieces brilliantly. His left foot is insane. He scored so many goals and assists in his career… But Zorya had claims against him for his defensive play. In his youth. Yuriy Mykolayovych tried to mitigate this so that his strong qualities overshadowed it. But he still forced Ruslan to work hard.
Moreover, he and Maksym Maliyshev always struggled with excess weight. Yuriy Mykolayovych used to have weigh-ins every day. Malinovskyi and Maliyshev constantly battled for game time. They and Max were always trying to circumvent this obstacle on their way to training. This is youth, those 500-600 grams didn't particularly bother them, — quotes Vitaliy " UF".