Former Kyiv Dynamo forward Viktor Leonenko is dissatisfied with the current Champions League.
— Let’s talk about the Champions League at the end. Which matches of the first game day did you watch in the third round?
— Some matches are uninteresting to watch. I can’t even call it the Champions League, they have the fourth teams of their championships playing. And also — can anyone imagine a 7:2 score in the Champions League (Bayer — PSG — 2:7, — Ed.)?! Even hockey players don’t always allow themselves such results! Getting ridiculous red cards at this level is unacceptable. For the fans, 7:2 is great, but for the coaches, it’s disgraceful and a loss of health. Collective farm everywhere!
It’s clear that you can’t play without mistakes, but you need to understand what they are. A team that concedes seven goals is not a team, but «tractor drivers», no offense to the people of that profession whom I respect.
When such crushing scores happen, it’s funny to read coaches' statements that there are no weak teams in the Champions League. Only weak coaches can speak like that.
— What do you say about Zabarnyi’s disastrous game, who conceded two penalties and was sent off in the first half?
— You need to ask him why he played so poorly. Maybe magnetic storms influenced it. Everyone has bad games, but if you’re worth 90 million, you can’t make the mistakes that Popov makes in Kyiv Dynamo. Everyone makes mistakes, but you must draw conclusions: when you make them, during what score, and whether you analyze afterward to avoid repeating them.
— Won’t Enrique bench Zabarnyi after the unsuccessful game?
— Easily! Enrique has proven he is a serious coach; you don’t win the Champions League just like that. He’ll analyze, and if Zabarnyi makes another such mistake, he will definitely sit out. PSG beat Bayer, and with such a large score, so Enrique can forgive Zabarnyi the first time, but it’s better not to make such a mistake again.
Andriy Piskun