“Did the press officer allow you to talk to me?” - the first thing the goalkeeper recognized.
- All the press attaches of the world are not against.
“Yes,” he said. - I'm listening.
- Vyacheslav, do you know that the Russian national team, arriving in Estonia, stops at different hotels each time?
- ???
- I'll tell you: for luck. The results in Tallinn are not the best. So we rush from hotel to hotel.
- Honestly, I did not think. This time we live in the best?
- They say there is even better.
- Even better! Maybe left him next time.
- That is, it is assumed that this trip to Estonia will not end very well either.
- I think that it is not necessary, firstly, to think about it. In any case, everything will depend on the team - it will play. And in no case will it depend on the hotel. And if it does, then the better the conditions, the better the preparation. I have tea with lemon.
A waitress approached Vyacheslav Malafeev, and he abruptly changed the subject of the conversation.
- Therefore, I believe that the main thing is to think about the game, about the opponent, and only then about everything else.
- Now the team is in the most difficult position, at least during the work of Guus Hiddink. Perhaps with other coaches it was even worse, but the Dutchman certainly did not face an epidemic of injuries.
- It is unlikely that the situation is so serious and dramatic. Here are the players who play in the main teams of the best clubs in Russia. Not everyone has experience in international matches, but they proved their skills in the championship.
- Does the political background that is invariably present in matches between Russia and Estonia put pressure on you?
- I think that there is no need to interfere with football with politics. And if you need to interfere, then it is necessary that the leadership said.
- Do you follow the story around the monument to the Warrior-Liberator?
- I heard remotely, but I do not want to get hung up on this. Because for a football player, this is probably wrong - to mix any feelings or politics with football. Although everyone knows that these things are still interconnected.
- But Estonians are good at getting in the way of politics and football. They additionally motivate themselves and fight in home games, like lions.
“I don't know what this is based on.” Maybe on a story in which, if you dig around, you can really find some unpleasant moments in relationships, say, between countries. But still it was a long time, huh? Maybe this hostility remained. The Russian and Estonian peoples may be slightly different. And the mentality and relationships. If you ask the Russians, their attitude towards the Estonians will, to some extent, be ... well, at most, some kind of indifference. Apparently, there is some kind of hostility.
- And what is your attitude to the Estonians?
- Absolutely equal, as to other nationalities. The same as for the Finns.
- A typical approach of an athlete who does not think about citizenship, but pays attention to other things.
- Yes, of course.
- There is talk that the team is now in a very difficult situation. All are nervous. Because of Titov’s strange departure, because of Semshov’s incomprehensible disengagement.
- Well, complete nonsense. Semshov was sick. Titov has his own reasons, which have already been voiced. If not voiced, then I will not speak. This means that they do not know about them. Everything happens in life.
- And Semshov left the team not because of the interview?
- About whom?
“He said what Titov actually left for.”
- I know, very good ... our journalists write very well. I, too, once through stupidity gave an interview to a person with whom I was not familiar. And then my statements were discussed for a month. Moreover, everyone who knows me in St. Petersburg was sure that I could not say that.
- The result is a damaged phone.
- Not that a damaged phone, but turned out to be one hundred percent yellowness.
- The newspaper in which the interview was never yellowness.
- My interview was posted on the site.
- I know - on our website. But we are talking about Semshov. Do you think this was invented?
- I'm sure. I think hardly. Because all the players are professionals. And they know how to behave. All players are experienced and, probably, if there was something negative, they can swallow it and not break into epithets. And if each time you enter into some skirmishes with journalists or management, then you simply will not grow to that level. Prior to the recognition of this.
- Forget about it?
“It always will be.” The man said something, heard, wrote something. And I misunderstood something. And they told, exaggerated. I am sure that in this interview there will be words that I did not say.
- Believe me, everything will be verbatim.
Alexey Shevchenko, Tallinn