Dynamo goalkeeper kept his hundredth clean sheet against Krasnodar (1:0) and joined Lev Yashin Club. Having passed this milestone, the White-Blues' captain shared his emotions and told about the next goals.
— What did you feel after joining Lev Yashin Club?
— Given the fact that I play at Dynamo and could join Lev Yashin Club, I am overwhelmed with emotions. We won today and continued chasing the top 3. Our main goal for the rest of the season is to make our fans happy and climb as high as possible in the table. We haven't won any trophies for more than 20 years. And now we have everything to correct it – for example, a new stadium, which is always filled with fans. We play football and people like our game. We will strive for more.
— This is an important step in your career. Was it psychologically difficult to pass this milestone?
— It usually happens that you need time to pass it. When you have 99 matches, you count on keeping the final clean sheet as soon as possible, but it usually doesn't happen for a long time. Now I passed this milestone. I can forget about it and be focused on helping the team to climb as high as possible in the standings.
— Did the call-up to the national team help you to feel more confident?
— A call-up to the national team is always motivating, and every football player wants to defend the colors of his nation. Unfortunately, there were no official games this break, but I enjoyed training with the best players of the country and returned to the club in a good mood.
— The first half was quite calm, but the opponent created chances in the second half. Was it difficult after the break?
— It is always more difficult for a goalkeeper to play when there are not so many chances and you are always waiting for them. When you're active and always in the game, when you're saving all the time, you feel confident. There weren't many chances in the first half. But after the interval I had to back up the defenders, because our team used high pressure. It was clear that Krasnodar would try to benefit from long balls. At some point, I even felt that we sat back, and the Krasnodar side began to create chances. Fortunately, we had our chances, too and managed to win.
— Did you like the new version of the famous chant performed by Smolov Only Shunin, only Dynamo?
— Fedya is very creative. In general, the fans sometimes performed such a chant. The guys congratulated me, which is doubly great.
— What is your next goal?
— If someone had told a year ago that seven rounds before the end we would be three points behind the leader, we would simply not have believed it. Now we are happy to stay second, but we still have to play seven matches in the league and three in the Russian Cup. There is a difficult series of games ahead of us, in which we must show ourselves, pull out our strength moving only forward, striving for victories. Last season we earned 50 points, now we need to collect even more.