"I fought well with Dzyuba - I just stayed away from him".

Rubin Kazan midfielder Ruslan Bezrukov has lost his place in the main squad in the current Russian championship, but in the game of the last round against Akron Togliatti for the first time played all 90 minutes on the field. Before that this happened to him only in Russian Cup games.

In an interview with Izvestia, Bezrukov explained why his team is performing well and occupies seventh place in the league even amid recent rumors of head coach Rashid Rakhimov's resignation, talked about what it was like to play against Akron's star striker Artem Dzyuba, and also commented on his YouTube show, which he hosted with former Rubin head coach Leonid Slutsky.

- What was it like to play against Artem Dzyuba in the last match?

- The main thing against him is not to play with your hands. (Smiling.) He likes to play from the defender, and he needs to impose the fight. In my opinion, Artem played a good match against us, but the team coped with him.

- Did you have any problems with playing with your hands against him?

- No, my last name is Bezrukov, so it's the opposite. That's why I fought him well - I just stayed away from him and that's all. (Laughs)

- Many believe that when Dzyuba finishes his career as a footballer, you will take away from him the status of the main humorist of the RPL.

- I am competing with him anyway. You can say that there is training in professional soccer, and there is training in humor. When Dzyuba and I meet, there are always some funny jokes. And I try to adopt something. The main thing is to adopt good, not bad. We were once at a tournament in Volgograd in honor of the opening of Leonid Viktorovich Slutsky's own school. Dzyuba made a lot of jokes there. And when we see each other, we throw a couple of jokes at each other. And in general we communicate well. Thanks to Leonid Viktorovich for gathering the guys who played for him in Volgograd. And that's how Dzyuba and I got acquainted.

- Did you cross paths with him when he was out of work in the summer of 2022, during the pre-season training camp with Rubin under Slutsky?

- No, I joined Rubin then just after Dzyuba had left Kazan.

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- Have you watched Slutsky and Dzyuba's show on YouTube?

- Of course. Quite a lot of funny moments. I watched all the episodes. Very interesting.

-Any specific jokes from there remembered?

- No, I can't name any specific ones. I liked it in general. Every communication with both Viktorovich and Dzyuba is a new joke. That's why it is interesting to communicate with them. And it is funny to watch their communication with each other.

- Do you want to open a similar show on YouTube yourself? With your sense of humor.

- Not yet. I'm just thinking about soccer.

-And when you reach Dzyuba's age, around 35?

- Well, I don't know yet. I still have to live to that age. (Laughs.)

- Mirlind Daku scored two goals in the last game, but recently he failed to realize a penalty in two consecutive games. How has he managed to survive these setbacks?

- In general, Daku probably feels that the team supports him. That's why he somehow easily got away from it all. It is clear that each of the guys in Rubin supported him. Everyone told him the necessary words. And Daku is good that at least he listened to it and drew conclusions himself, coping with this situation. The whole team supports him, and we can see from the last game that he's in good condition - both emotionally and physically.

- The match with Akron was your first match in the starting lineup in the championship in the summer and the first full match in the RPL this season. Why did you return to the starting lineup?

- I didn't do anything like that. I just trained, waited for my chance. The chance came - you just need to use it well. In general, nothing supernatural. As I was training, so I keep on training. I just put even more effort in training and in the gym. Hence the result.

-And you didn't do it before?

- I did.

- But in the fall we played only in the cup, and in the championship we sat on the bench.

- Well, it just depends on a certain moment. When the team wins, then, probably, nothing needs to be changed. So we didn`t change. But here we just got a chance. And we need to take advantage of it.

- For most of the fall, the media rumored about Rashid Rakhimov's imminent resignation, but the team managed to prevent it with its results. How did these talks affect the players' condition?

- Nothing. We just stopped listening to these talks. At first, when they arose, the team somewhere involuntarily listened to them, still read about all this somewhere. When these comments and news are flying around the club, it's hard to concentrate. And then, in general, we let go of these thoughts and began to play coherently.

- "Rubin" is in seventh place with a big gap from the leading group, but also with a big gap from the zone of transition matches. How does it affect the mood of the team?

- It motivates to fight with the teams that are higher.