"We've put ourselves in this position, and we're going to get out on our own"

In winter, a number of high-profile stories happened around the Khimki football club. In December, Tufan Sadigov, the team's investor, was detained and placed under house arrest. He was released a month later, but this did not solve the financial problems of the Moscow region club. There were rumors that the team was on the verge of bankruptcy and might not finish the season. Due to the debts, the RFU Dispute Resolution Chamber imposed a ban on the club from registering newcomers.

Nevertheless, Khimki survived until the resumption of the championship and in the first match after the winter break they beat Voronezh Fakel at home (1-0). This allowed the wards of Frank Artiga to get out of the zone of transitional matches. The 12th-placed club increased its lead from the direct relegation zone to five points. In an interview with Izvestia, defender of the Moscow region team Alexander Filin explained how the club lives in debt and why reducing the number of players has been beneficial.

— How did you win the first spring match?

— Due to diligence, struggle, and team spirit. All this made it possible to win.

— Were you influenced by the fact that the public had been burying Khimki all winter and even at some point believed that they might not finish the season?

— Yes, it does. There are still problems. The application has been closed, everyone understands this, but we, as football players, once again show that we are doing our job. Then it's up to the club's management.

— How long does the club owe you a salary?

— I won't tell you — you can ask the management. But there are certain debts. The club must resolve these issues. I can only say that there are debts.

— Has anything changed in the household? Did the club start saving money, for example, by checking you into cheaper hotels?

— No, we still live in good hotels. We attended the training camp at the same hotel as before. That is, everything is fine here. We changed our sponsor to Chernogolovka. It has become more interesting — now we will drink better quality water (smiles). There are no big changes in the life of the team as a whole.

— You have previously flown to and from away matches not by charters, but by scheduled planes, judging by the fact that I flew with you in September from Samara after the match with Akron (0-3).

— In principle, we have always flown on scheduled planes. We have a good location in Moscow, so there's no point in spending money on charters. More precisely, it's not that it doesn't make sense, but for now there are other issues that need to be spent on. Therefore, it is not a problem to fly by scheduled flights.

— Has anything changed in preparation during the winter training camp?

— There used to be a lot of players in the team. It wasn't easy to train when there were so many players. Now everything is more organic when there are two players for each position. The environment is still competitive, but there is no oversupply of people. It helped to do a good job at the training camp. It's great that we got through all this without injury. Therefore, now we can solve the problem of maintaining a place in the RPL. Everyone understands the situation and what needs to be done. After all, all the players who are currently at Khimki were in the team during the first part of the season. So we forced ourselves into this tournament position, so we'll get out on our own. For example, I played the first part of the season, I didn't go anywhere — now I will try to get out with the team.

— Were there any options for where to go?

—To Ordabasy." Ha-ha. Just kidding. No, I didn't discuss the options. I have a contract with Khimki, and I want to help the team here first. Such a task.

— Why was it a joke about the original Kazakh club Ordabasy?

— It just sounds interesting.

— You mentioned the huge number of Khimki players who were in the first part of the season. This topic has often been discussed in our media. Was such a large application really a problem?

- yes. Right now we have 22 players, two people per position, so it's more comfortable in training. Not three people should participate in the exercises, as before, but two at a time. Now everything is as it should be, so a lot of things got better right away.

— Do you have a feeling that you can play to win in the next matches?

— Let's see. We're moving from game to game. Our next match is with CSKA on the road. It is clear that there will be more football than in the match against Fakel. So let's see what happens. We can beat everyone, and we've shown that more than once this season. We have high-quality players. In fact, if you take us individually by position, Khimki is a good team. I think everyone understands that.