Kalinichenko: "I do not want to leave Spartak, but ..."

- Maxim, the national team of Ukraine more than successfully performed at this championship. But the first game of the final stage cannot be called so optimistic. After Spain, what was the mood?

- There was a slight shock. Clicking on the nose - I would compare that. Four goals conceded, and in the complete absence of chances. Well, maybe a couple of options were just to score a goal. But to save this game - there was not a single chance.

- Then there was a feeling of some kind of revenge that you were higher than the Spaniards, and as a result went further?

- There was no feeling. But, of course, we still touched on this topic a couple of times. Because, probably, this is a blind lot. Just the Spaniards got the French - one of the strongest teams in the end. Although no one bet on them. And for us, the Swiss are strong, who have not missed a single goal before, but flew out. All this is somehow relative. Spain is at home, we are in the quarter finals.

- Did you and your partners somehow determine the place of the Ukrainian team?

- Surprisingly, it was after Spain that everyone understood that people, in general, were the same - with arms and legs. Only the question of psychology was very influential. We burned out for this game, it’s obvious. But it was after Spain that everyone realized that no one would be content with one victory and leaving the group with a creak.

Well, as for, for example, Italy ... We lost 0-3 to them. But there was another feeling. We were not afraid of Italians, we went out with them to play football, and not fight back.

- With Switzerland, when there was a penalty shootout and Shevchenko did not score first, did they say anything to each other?

- They said, of course, but this is not for print. Personally, I just changed the position of my hands. If you don’t go, something needs to be changed. In truth, despite the fact that Shevchenko did not score, it was after his blow that there was confidence that we would win this series.

- Is it possible to say that the World Cup changed the mind of Maxim Kalinichenko?

- Probably changed. The further I get from the World Cup, the calmer and smoother the emotions become. And what exactly has changed or has not changed with me, only games can say.

- Is it possible to compare the national team of Ukraine and the club, Moscow “Spartak”?

- Probably, they are not comparable by all criteria. A club is really a family. And I love this family. But during these two months, he very much akin to the guys from the national team.

- Even at the World Cup, rumors arose that Kalinichenko wanted to buy. What is the actual situation? What do you want?

- The situation is quite simple. I do not want to leave Spartak. Because here, probably, is already my house. I love the club and fell in love with Moscow. But then again - how it will be in the future, I can not say.

- It does not depend on you?

“Not that it doesn't.” It depends, probably, both on me and on those people who will deal with this issue. There must be a comprehensive solution. I just want to play - and I want to play in Spartak. And how it will be, how the bosses will decide, how I will decide in the future ... There are many nuances here, which, frankly, I don’t want to talk about. I think everything will show the near future.

- You did come to Spartak Romantsev. You have found a glorious era. What has happened to Spartak all these years, in your opinion?

“Again, you cannot say one phrase here.” There have been changes, very big changes. The people who came to power probably did not quite understand why and how to manage all this. For what they came, they probably understood, but probably didn’t fully understand how to put the happiness or misfortune that fell on them in the right direction.

Therefore, there was a slurred transfer policy, when just seas of obscure foreigners came to the club. Then the mess with the coaches went. All this, probably, from internal anxiety or simply from not knowing what to do.

That infrastructure, which was under Romantsev, was almost completely destroyed. And it takes years to create a new one. On this occasion, even conflicts arose. Everyone saw the quality of the game of people who came. But in comparing the quality with what people get, and with how they are asked ... These were incomparable concepts. People came, received a lot of money, and asked from us - from those who have been there for more than a year.

- Is there a theoretical probability of the return of the old Spartak, including the return of Romantsev? Is it possible to make such a turn, come back? Or, conversely, you need something new: a new level, new people and a new Spartak. Which way do you have in your head?

- In fact, you can imagine everything. But what’s better ... The team is developing now. And only after some time you begin to understand, right or wrong. We hope the club goes in the right direction. In the direction of, let's say, modern football.

At the same time, the team now plays most of the time down, holds the ball, just does not knock it out. He is not playing the aggressive, power football that Starks instilled. Although not without it.

Fedotov is very demanding, very angry with extreme midfielders who shoot a little, do little speed work. Nevertheless, there is no constant pace for the moment. There is a certain arrhythmia, which was inherent in just that “Spartacus”.

- Many say that competition always spurs. Where is the truth for you?

- Everyone says: competition is the engine of team progress. When there is the backbone of a team, for example 13-14 experienced players who are ready to make a result, and below them is a group of young, ambitious, capable guys who are ready to take their place, for me this competition is healthy. And the situation when there are 22 people and, roughly speaking, 20 of them are collections that want to play each game, there is no need to talk about healthy competition. People are offended.

I repeat: everyone wants to play. A young rival soccer player, he will not be offended, he will plow, he will wait. Experienced and qualified footballers, of whom there are too many, it seems to me, are now at Spartak, they often do not want to wait. And they are probably right in their own way.

- Back to the world championship. What do you think about the situation with Zidane and Materazzi?

- This is a game moment. Knowing Zidane, his difficult character, who had countless deletions on this occasion ... Materazzi, apparently, was engaged in provocations almost the entire game. And at some point, he just got Zidane. That's all.

And how do I feel about this? No way. There is no racism there. Maybe on racist grounds there was an insult. But then again, in the game, if someone offends you, you look at him not as a racist, but as a man who challenged you. At some point, Zidane simply could not cope with his emotions.

- Have you seen similar manifestations in a career-insulting on national or religious grounds? Is it now in the Russian championship? We fight against racism. Is there a reason to fight something?

- My opinion, probably, will differ from the opinion of many. I’ll just say such a thing: dark-skinned football players sometimes see racism where there is none at all. And the atmosphere is heating up. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe someone will be offended. But bigger racists than they probably aren't.

There was even an example at the World Cup — I don’t know how appropriate it is now — when they removed the Tunisian football player in the last minute of the first half in a match with the Tunisian team. We went to the tribune room. One of the Tunisians walked all this time - there was a rather big staircase upstairs to reach the locker room - and all these three minutes he shouted: everyone here is racist, and all the African teams here are specially driven.

- What do you dream about in the football sense?

- What I dreamed about, probably already came true. Now we need to come up with something new, some kind of dream. I can say with confidence that one of the childhood dreams came true. What to dream of in the future, I have not yet come up with.

- Ideally, where would you like to play?

- The ideal is Real, this is Spain. Since childhood I have been rooting for this team. And since childhood I like this championship. Perhaps he is close to me in spirit, in my perception of the game. In general, to leave somewhere just like that, just in order to leave, it makes no sense. Now it’s stupid to leave to the middle European clubs from the big Russian clubs. For the money, I frankly say there is nothing to gain. If you leave, then only to a large club.

Alexander Shmurnov and Mikhail Melnikov