Fedor Smolov: High emotional pressure is great at the end of the season

— 10 years later, Dynamo reached the Russian Cup final again. Igor Leshchuk said that we would be happy only if we won the title. Are you also discreet in such topic?

— Of course, reaching the final doesn't mean much. Yes, we did a good job. All the guys are well done. With all respect to Alania, we had to beat them playing at home in front of our fans.

— There was a lot of excitement around the match. Everyone waited for a victory. How did you deal with the pressure before the game?

— The pressure increased because of the previous unsuccessful matches. But all runs come to an end, and a strong team really knows how to tune in to the next game and forget the previous defeats. The next match is always the most important. That's the beauty of football – we can smooth over previous failures with a bright win.

— Will this victory give more confidence for the end of the season?

— Any victory gives confidence. The Russian Premier League is a completely different tournament, in which we will have to play two hard matches against Lokomotiv and Sochi. We are not thinking about the Cup final yet, it is important to finish the championship well.

— At the beginning of the match, it seemed that luck turned away from Dynamo. What was the reason for it?

— It's hard to say, we were just unlucky. Perhaps it was some kind of inertia of previous unsuccessful matches. I hope that we have turned this around due to our fighting spirit, desire and dedication and now luck will accompany us.

— Was it easier to play after your goal?

— Of course. Throughout the spring, when we won with a great score, the first goal set us free and forced the opponent to run forward.

— As a result, the team managed to win with a great score. What are your impressions of the opponent?

— Alania players are well done. I think they deserved to be in the semifinal. They play great, good luck to them.

— You were named the Man of the match. Is it a valuable prize for you?

— I am quite calm about this kind of prizes. It is much more important that we won and reached the final.

— How can the team deal with high emotional pressure in the Cup final?

— I think that such emotional pressure is great at the end of the season. We are chasing the top spot. In fact, we play all season for these matches. We will enjoy it.

— Today was one of the most attended games of the season. Did the fans support you well?

— Yes, everything was great. Many thanks to our fans for coming to the stadium. Now we are waiting for everyone at the final match of the season against Sochi.